Re: Minutes from ever

At 12:40 PM -0800 11/24/00, William Loughborough wrote:
>At 02:03 PM 11/24/00 -0800, Anne Pemberton wrote:
>>There is only so much you can do with text.
>
>I don't want to get too out of hand but if I'm not mistaken all of 
>civilization has, in a very real sense been built on "text"?

I think this is a bizarre statement.  Civilization has been built on
_language_.  Text is simply one way to render that language, and it
has been dominant due to specific technology available since the
invention of the printing press, but in no way is it accurate to
say that civilization has been built on "text."  Especially when you
consider historically illiteracy rates...

Remember that some of the greatest works of the English language --
I'm thinking of Shakespeare here -- were meant to be _performed_
by _live people_, not simply read out of musty old books in
quiet classrooms.

(But, why are we talking about this?)

--Kynn
-- 
Kynn Bartlett <kynn@idyllmtn.com>
http://www.kynn.com/

Received on Monday, 27 November 2000 14:35:19 UTC