While reading this week's assigned chapters I was struck by the similarity of displaced worker then and now. With the advent of printing, scribes, once revered for their talent were displaced by the printing press. They tried to stage and revolt but were not supported by their local government. Some used their skill to teach writing to the newly literate.
This made me think back on my early career as a drafter and illustrator. I had great skill and my drawings were used in engineering and marketing for a variety of uses. The advent of CAD drafting put an end to that career. Engineers began creating their own drawings and the role of even a CAD drafter is very limited. With any technological advance there are obsoleted positions and workers have to adapt as best they can.
Nowadays there isn't much that seems out of the realm of possibility for the human mind to accomplish but it certainly wasn't always that way.
Witchcraft seemed to be a common justification to many things that seemed unexplainable at first. Johann Fust was forced to explain Gutenberg's printing process to the French who upon seeing the number of bibles printed and their conformity raised the cry of witchcraft. That event sparked the writing of numerous books centered around the dissatisfaction with the limits of human knowledge. There have always been great thinkers and the printing press gave us the gift of their knowledge as it still does today.
I'm not surprised that censorship started with the church. Church in my opinion being synonymous with government and politics.
Those in charge, whether elected or appointed, always want to try to control their constituents in some way. The church must have been very fearful once they had to share literacy as it opened the door to free speech.
Reading about the advent of the printed word makes me want to share a book with you. One of my prized possessions is an 1893 book of photographs from the Columbian Exposition; otherwise known as the Chicago World's Fair. It is interesting to look at the publishing info after reading about the history of printing.
This made me think back on my early career as a drafter and illustrator. I had great skill and my drawings were used in engineering and marketing for a variety of uses. The advent of CAD drafting put an end to that career. Engineers began creating their own drawings and the role of even a CAD drafter is very limited. With any technological advance there are obsoleted positions and workers have to adapt as best they can.
Nowadays there isn't much that seems out of the realm of possibility for the human mind to accomplish but it certainly wasn't always that way.
Witchcraft seemed to be a common justification to many things that seemed unexplainable at first. Johann Fust was forced to explain Gutenberg's printing process to the French who upon seeing the number of bibles printed and their conformity raised the cry of witchcraft. That event sparked the writing of numerous books centered around the dissatisfaction with the limits of human knowledge. There have always been great thinkers and the printing press gave us the gift of their knowledge as it still does today.
I'm not surprised that censorship started with the church. Church in my opinion being synonymous with government and politics.
Those in charge, whether elected or appointed, always want to try to control their constituents in some way. The church must have been very fearful once they had to share literacy as it opened the door to free speech.
Reading about the advent of the printed word makes me want to share a book with you. One of my prized possessions is an 1893 book of photographs from the Columbian Exposition; otherwise known as the Chicago World's Fair. It is interesting to look at the publishing info after reading about the history of printing.
I love this statement from the bottom part of the title page,
"Authors of "Shepp's Photographs of the World, " the most famous book of modern times.
I take no credit for their grammar. :-)
The Alphabet Versus the Goddess
Thanks Kent, for recommending this book. It's an exceedingly informative and insightful book from the very beginning.
Firstly I am sad that such an original thinker has dies. By all accounts the author, Leonard Shlain, was an amazing scholar, brain surgeon, father and communicator. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to attend a lecture given by such a passionate person.
This book is as instantly enthralling as a great novel. For someone without any formal education in evolution or the acquisition of language, the book provides a no nonsense explanation of how our brain evolved to our current incarnation.
Mr. Shlain explains his hypothesis of the loss of the Goddess culture as a result of our acquisition and employment of written language over image based communication, resulting in a shift to the differently evolved left brain. From that point, we have never looked back.
Mr. Shlain explains how men developed a more linear approach to thought processes and women a more broad approach to the world and to problem solving. Historically that has been the case. What about the current state of our social evolution now that we are acting "as if" we are all the same. Women can and should do what men do and men should be more like women. Are we forcing a change in our evolution much like the acquisition of language did?
Is that how it happens? We know that other cultures don't have these same gender blurring so who wins out?
In the book, "The End of History and the Last Man", the author, Francis Fukuyama, among many other theories, posits that the spread of Western Capitalist culture would end the need for physical war and as such the need for the ultra manliness needed for a warrior. It's an interesting theory. I can't help but wonder what would happen should Muslim Fundamentalism or for that matter Christian Fundamentalism be the overriding force.
Consider the proliferation of psychiatric drugs given to women who are too emotional or the stimulants given to boys to counteract their more male tendencies. Is this another step toward creating one sex?
I see so much posturing and competition between some of my married / committed friends relationships. I believe it is because of the blurring of genders. I find it painful to watch. It does seem different in the next generation. My younger friends don't seem to mind who makes the most money and since they pick up the kid(s) at daycare and dinner on the way home and have a housekeeper in once a week there isn't the same conflict.
There is a lot to think about and I find it fascinating.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Another fascinating book that I'm reading is also apropos is the fictional story of a book conservator and her journey to uncover secrets of a real historic Hebrew text called the Sarajevo Haggadah. The codex that inspired this book is believed to have been created during Spain's golden age in the mid 14th century but that is conjecture as there is no colophon.
The Sarajevo Haggadah is a Jewish religious text illuminated that sets out the order of the Passover Seder. The fictional conservator uses clues found in her rebinding of the ancient book such as an insect wing, a hair and wine stains to try and determine the past history of the book. It's a fascinating read and I recommend it highly.
No comments:
Post a Comment