rdnelson@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Roger D Nelson) (05/06/89)
In article <2031@trantor.harris-atd.com> chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) writes: > I was thinking about this also. I think what may be more important about >written media is that they are more "permanent". One way to exploit a person >is to present them with constantly changing messages, so that they can't >remember what you said before. If you are literate, you can write it down and >save it away. I suppose you could record visual things, but that is harder. I suspect all this speculation is moot in the face of evolving societies, but will add a couple of points anyway: 1. Written and even printed material can be produced easily, even in hostile environments -- eg totalitarian governments. 2. All of the competition depends on a healthy technological culture, and can be trashed by pulling the plug -- not so for books and papers. On a more positive note, and perhaps more relevant to psychology, it is probably demonstrable that writing per se helps make people more creative and clear-minded, more successful, more nearly actualized, than they would be without the excercise. Other references would be more appropriate, but didn't McCluhan do this general topic years ago? Roger Nelson rdnelson@phoenix.princeton.edu