We have met the Devil of Information Overload and his impish underlings, the computer virus, the busy signal, the dead link, and the PowerPoint presentation.
James GleickRead
A good part of 'The Information' is about the transition from an oral to a literary culture. Books effected such a great transformation in the way we think about the world, our history, our logic, mathematics, you name it. I think we would be greatly diminished as a people and as a culture if the book became obsolete.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the profound impact of books on culture and thought.
James Gleick's quote underscores the significance of the transition from oral traditions to written literature, emphasizing how books have fundamentally altered our understanding of various aspects of life, including history, logic, and mathematics. He warns that the obsolescence of books would lead to a significant loss in cultural richness and intellectual depth for humanity.
Themes
BooksCultureLiteratureEducationKnowledgeOral Tradition
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on the importance of education, one might quote this to highlight the role of literature in shaping society.
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Everything we care about lies somewhere in the middle, where pattern and randomness interlace.
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We have a habit of turning to scientists when we want factual answers and artists when we want entertainment, but where are the facts about the nature of the self? Neurologists peering at PET scans and fMRIs know they aren't seeing the soul in there.
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