One of the university librarians where I work attended the Association of College and Research Libraries conference last week and sent out a “report” about it today. He said it was a hit and miss experience but one of the best sessions was Michael Ridley, the CIO of Guelph University.
Ridley’s presentation was called “Are Reading and Writing Doomed?” His slides are available as a pdf if you are interested and I am going to bet you will be interested. Because, you see, Ridley thinks we are heading toward a post-literate world, one in which reading and writing are no longer necessary and no longer done. His view is that reading and writing are tools and technology is going to reach a stage where we don’t need those tools any longer.
There are lots of candidates for what a post-literate world might look like. At this point it is only speculation. Ridley lists a few in his slides but if you want a little more detail, he has a website. Ridley teaches a class on the topic and on the Resources page you can find two articles written by two of his classes.
Frankly, I find the whole thing terrifying. I don’t like the idea of being plugged in all the time, knowing other people’s thoughts and other people knowing mine. There is also the question of what will happen to literature. It will be transformed into something else just as the oral culture of pre-literate times was transformed into books. The argument of paper books vs. e-books will be moot because books will not exist any longer.
My only comfort is that it is unlikely to happen in my lifetime. The beginnings of it might, but the transition will take a long time just as it took a long time to go from a pre-literate to a literate society. If you find any of this exciting or worrisome, there is a reading list on page six of Ridley’s presentation. Read while you still can.
Yea, I don’t think I’d want to live in that world either. I was just talking to a friend about how everyone is on Facebook, Twittering, etc. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with those things but at some point it all becomes too much. I love my computer and all the wonderful technology but I also love to step away from it and hang out with people and books
I hope I’m dead and gone if that comes to pass.
I think it’s terrifying and hope it never happens. My biggest worry is the same as yours: what will happen to literature? Thanks for the post.
Yikes. Sounds like this guy spooked you. It’s hard to imagine something as pleasurable as acquiring, holding, and reading books would ever die out. We still ride horses and go to plays and paint landscapes, don’t we?
I’m all for “rich human communication,” which is what he seems to think is the next stage of literacy. And I also like how he talks about this next stage not being a descent into a bad place, but something new and wonderful. Unfortunately, I can’t do more than skim his site, because I have so many things I want to read right now.
I can’t help thinking that if printing and reading disappear it will because of a ‘Dark Ages’ scenario rather than because we’ve gone to the next level in technological terms. The direction we are heading in ecologically seems to indicate that that is the more likely occurrence. Think fall of the Roman Empire. The only upside is that books would be likely to become very precious commodities indeed, highly prized but sadly accessible to the very few.
I worry about a post-reading world, but oddly, not a post-writing one. When I joined this online writer’s community, Authonomy, in which the monthly prize was to have your manuscript looked over by HarperCollins, the number of manuscripts online rose incredibly swiftly to over 3,000 and is still rising. And I do believe that the relatively small percentage of keen readers (which has been the same across a great deal of history, I reckon) will remain. But in any case, all these sorts of stories are good calls to arms. We need to keep reading, keep getting the book chat out there, keep introducing people who don’t read much to the pleasures of books. Buy everyone books for presents, subscribe to literary magazines, in short, put money where our mouths are. I’m up for that, and barricade building too.
This actually made me feel like crying.
I have no commentary, but just a recommended read. In Dan Simmons’ novel Ilium, he puts people from a post-literate future in contact with those from a pre-literate culture (ancient Greece). A major character is a 20th century classics professor, which would be representation from a literate culture. Though the novel is science fiction, Simmons (a graduate of liberal arts exemplar Wabash) provides some interesting reflections throughout on various degrees of literacy and their effect on people.
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Like Sylvia, I don’t see books, reading, and writing ever going away completely. It may dwindle and become as Maggie says a situation in which books are “precious commodities” similar to the situation before the advent of the printing press, which made books and reading available to the masses instead of the rich, educated elite.
Since I’m addicted to the physicality of books as part of the act of reading, technology and ‘progress’ (not to mention time) seem a constant threat. On the other hand, I’m fascinated by oral culture. This should prove interesting . . . so glad you’ve linked to it!
I find this kind of thing both fascinating and terrifying, especially as a writer faced with an increasingly difficult publishing world. The idea that books could disappear entirely seems impossible to me, but its clear that literature as we know it is in transition. It’s kind of exciting to be involved in that change (since blogging is part of it) but frustrating at the same time – we cling to what’s comfortable. And I simply can’t imagine a world without reading as I understand it…
Honestly, I could not make heads or tails of those slides, and the whole idea distressed me so much by the time I gave up I didn’t want to go see the website. I hope books never phase out.
There’s a part of me that feeling despairing about the possibility of a post-literate world — I don’t believe in “progress,” after all, so why should I assume things won’t get worse as far as reading and writing go? On the other hand, I’m partial to the idea Bloglily cited that maybe we are heading into something new and wonderful. How can we know?
Yikes!
I’m with you, the whole concept is terrifying to me. I can’t imagine it.
Please, don’t say stuff like this –> “The argument of paper books vs. e-books will be moot because books will not exist any longer” because I have to go to sleep right now and I don’t want to have nightmares about a bookless world!
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Sorry, but I think this guy is an idiot. Absolute moron. Look, I talk to enough young people to know they’re not giving up printed stuff. They’re not giving up the concept of book, either. They don’t want to be hooked up 24-7, either. What makes me mad is that perception often becomes reality. So morons like this who put forth these kinds of theories wind up making them come true.
The commenter who mentioned a Dark Age that would preclude books is somewhat wrong. A Dark Age would wipe out the internet and anything electronic. Leaving books as the delivery system for ideas once again.
Jeff
I haven’t checked out Ridley’s website or his presentation (like Bloglily, there are too many other things I want to read), but I can’t imagine a time when humans won’t want to tell stories. Maybe the format will evolve, but the book has been around a long, long time and I can’t imagine it dying out. Like you I don’t want to be constantly connected with the world around me. A little can go a long way. Don’t people appreciate quiet and solitude and a little contemplation anymore? I have a feeling this discussion is going to continue for a long time. In the end it will be the reader who chooses-even the CEO of Amazon has said that when marketing his Kindle.
*BEEP* *BEEP* Ray Kurzweil/Singularity reference detected!
Hmm…my hype-detector is going haywire.
It’s interesting to think about a “super tech” future, but the whole thing smacks a bit of flying cars and summer homes on the moon — fun to think about, but perhaps not all that realistic.
I have to parrot Sylvia. Even with digital cameras, and technology, we still have painters who create with oil and canvas. We can start babies in a petrie dish, but the old fashioned method does not seem to be loosing ground. It’s really all about pleasure. Until someone finds a way to re-wire our brains, I believe there will continue to be authors and readers. Maybe Michael Ridley just needs a topic that will get him speaking gigs (at least I hope so). Interesting post.
Just as the oral storytelling tradition is still used alongside writing (and often complementing it), I don’t believe the written style will disappear so quickly or at all. Readers and book-lovers will continue to read. The internet is, if anything, helping writing – blogs and websites allow people to self-publish nonsense and slowly build a literary mind. Books are still being published at a rapid pace and people are still reading them. The proof is right here.
I think perhaps you’re prematurely worried. While, yes, other things have crept up in the last century that have seemingly pushed reading aside as the “favorite pastime”, the amount of people reading is higher than ever. Reading was never more than something for the rich – it is now more widespread and influential than ever.
Ahhh! That is so scary. I don’t like this one bit. I will check out the slides and scare myself even further, I think. Hopefully this is just another speculation and not something we are headed toward!
Even in “pre-literate,” oral societies, people were drawing on cave walls in order to tell stories. The format (physical book) may change, but I just don’t believe we will ever give up symbolic representations to tell stories. I tend to get excited about what the future may hold, as long as we don’t abuse technologies, and I hope it is driven by more than the bottom line. The blogosphere gives me hope, because so many people are out here telling stories for nothing more than an audience.
Iliana, it can get to be too much, can’t it? I think for our sanity we all need to step back now and then.
Carrie, this won’t be happening any time soon, thank goodness!
Vasilly, literature will turn into something else we haven’t even imagined yet. However, I am rather attached to what we have
Sylvia, you are right. Books won’t completely disappear but they will become even more of a specialty item than they currently are which is very sad to think about.
Bloglily, you are right, it is about rich communication and he does talk about the change as being something new and wonderful. In the student papers they say they all thought it scary and terrible when they first began thinking about it but were slowly converted. I find it both scary and fascinating at the same time.
Maggie, some days it does seem we are heading for a dark ages doesn’t it? It is somehow easier to imagine the collapse of society than a burgeoning one with technology taking us places we can barely imagine.
Litlove, your comment about barricading the building made me giggle. I picture 1960s-like sit-ins where we take over the library to keep the books from being removed. We must be sure to bring enough food, we know we’ll have lots of great things to read!
llgb, ah don’t cry. If it ever happens it won’t be for a long, long time and by then we will either be dead or so senile that it won’t matter anyway.
Eric, yes, thank you for mentioning Ilium! I saw it mentioned somewhere when I was reading more about post literacy. It is on my TBR pile and now I am even more interested in reading it.
Lisa, you are right. Books will be available but perhaps not as a mass means of story telling or communication. With all the books being published these days, that might not be such a bad thing after all. It will make it easier to figure out what to read!
Inkslinger, yes there are some fascinating possibilities aren’t there? The sort of irony is that I am inspired to read more about the subject!
Verbivore, very wisely and well said. You are right to point out that literature is in transition and blogging is part of it. We all find the kind of reading we do in books so comforting but that doesn’t mean what comes next won’t be equally as comforting. It is just really hard to imagine how it could be better than what we have.
Jeane, the thought of books disappearing is terribly distressing.
Dorothy, I am with you on that. What I would love is the best of both–beautiful books and the new and wonderful and unimaginable possibilities.
cipriano, sorry! I hope you didn’t have any nightmares!
Jeff, I don’t think Ripley is an idiot. The idea is not his and what he is talking about is something in the distant future so everything is speculation based on the theories and technology we have today. What things will look like 100 years from now we can’t say.
Danielle, I think you are right. People will never stop telling stories, it is just how we tell them that will change. I do think though that fewer and fewer people know how to be alone. Look how many people walk down the street with earbuds stuck in their ears or are talking on a cell phone.
wil, LOL! I have had Kurzweil’s book on my shelf for some time but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. The Singularity seems plausible while at the same time completely bogus. It is interesting to think about though and is fed by my enjoyment of science fiction. And forget the moon, I Mars is where the real estate market is hot right now
Grad, you make a good point about pleasure. There are many things that we still do because it is pleasurable and as long as there are people around to enjoy books, there will continue to books to read.
Biblibio, I’m not worried books will be disappearing any time soon. But since I plan to live to be at least 500 so I can make it through my TB pile, I’m just doing a little worrying in advance.
Daphne, it is all speculation but I don’t think it is groundless. If you look at the slides, I bet you will end up being interested in the reading list he’s got in them. I know I am!
Emily, you are an optimistic storyteller and I like that. Now, how do we get people like you in charge of the world so things can be done in a balanced and sane way?
Actually, I did have a nightmare that very night, but it did not involve a bookless society.
It was all about this old lady chasing me and she was a tuna.
She chased me into a house and as I ran in, I realized it was her house, and she had a whole school of children there and they were all tunas, and they ate me.
I think that asemic writing will become the new post-literate literature. I don’t think that reading and writing will ever go away. But I do think that the literacy of the future will have to include visual literacy.
Cipriano, what a very weird dream. Are you sure it wasn’t Jack’s nightmare you fell into by mistake?
Michael, I think you are very likely right. Reading and writing won’t disappear entirely, but visual literacy will take the lead.
I can’t wait
When all my english literature teachers retire
no one will have to waste hours and hours reading and writing book reports about
mindless group of words again. How many novels really have anything new to say.
Saying the same thing over and over and over and over it is like math where people are always mean and selfish except when they aren’t.