"All those who have meditated on the art
of governing mankind have been convinced
that the fate of empires depends on the
education of youth." ~Aristotle~
We all know that "The pen is mightier than the sword", but are we on the brink of an age which is to be dominated by forces greater than the pen? For many centuries now the written word has indeed been a mighty instrument of change. In 1439, Johann Gutenberg created the first moveable type printing press, stole the written word from the hands of the academia and the clergy, and released its power to the unwashed masses. Life has never been the same. For the last five and a half centuries, the written word has been used not only as a sword, but as a political tool, a means to enlightenment, a repository of all of mankind's knowledge, and of course as a lighthearted diversion from the weariness of this world. When looking at the sweeping changes brought about by such a revolutionary invention as the press, it is easy to forget that something else of import occurred on that day in 1439. As the written word was truly reborn on that day, so the spoken word began its final decent into oblivion. We don't often think about it, but until the advent of the movable type press, books of any kind were extremely rare, and literacy among the common layperson was almost unheard of. Any knowledge one might acquire in these times came either from personal experience or from the spoken word. Family history, mythology, spirituality, and much else were all passed from one generation to the next by way of stories and songs. Now, nearly six centuries after the first book was printed in Gutenberg's press, the spoken word has almost completely died as a means of conveying any lasting knowledge of any type. So, if the printing press killed the spoken word, what will kill the written word? It is increasingly clear that we are on the verge of a complete shift in the way that we share information. If the mode of this sharing from time immemorial has been the spoken word, and the world after 1439 was dominated by the written word, then the 20th century through the present has been, and is increasingly becoming, an age of the image. In my grandfathers day, any individual with even a rudimentary education was at least somewhat versed in classical works of literature, from Shakespeare to the Bible. Likewise, a student on the cusp of the 20th century needed a firm grasp on the mechanics of grammar to even gain admission to high school. Lets jump forward now to the present, and look at some startling statistics. One third of students graduating from high school will never read another book for the rest of their lives , and 42 percent of college graduates will never read another book. How inexpressibly sad and confusing. Where then will they get their knowledge? How will they unwind? How will they keep up with the times? How will they learn from some of the greatest minds ever to put pen to paper? But I digress. First let me share a few more statistics. 80 percent of US adults did not buy or read a book this year, and 70 percent haven't even so much as darkened the door of a bookstore (source). What is going on? Truly to a great extent it is that we have traded our words for images,but is there not still a need for the written word? Although it is true that the written word has yet been outmoded as a means of sharing information, the pressure put upon it by our shifting world of images has caused drastic changes in how we view it. Words today have to be accessible very quickly in order to compete with images as a purveyor of information. In fact, since the advent of the internet
(circa 1989), books simply cannot be printed fast enough to keep up with the speed of information. Who hasnt walked along in the mall and seen bookstores desperately hawking books for last years OS, or books informing you on last years stock picks. Information just moves too fast in many arenas. In fact, many of those in my generation are finding that more and more even magazines and newspapers seem too slow to keep us up to date. We would rather get our latest political and news coverage from RSS feeds and blogs and of course the almighty image. Even the quick daily newspaper is being outmoded as subscriptions are at an all time low and advertisers are jumping ship and spending their money on online ads. In fact, an April McKinsey & Co. study found that betwixt 1996 and 2004 newspapers lost 1.9 billion dollars in revenue. Now, with newer, easier to read portable devices such as the kindle becoming better and cheaper on an almost monthly basis, it appears that the printed word is surely going the way of the dinosaur. But at what cost? We already have a generation with almost no knowledge of philosophy or classic literature. A generation that, instead of quoting thoughts of men such as Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Jefferson, are heard repeating the inane banter heard on their favorite reality TV show or talk show. Who knows what the full price will be for our abandonment of our intellectual heritage. One thought keeps running through my mind, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." 
of governing mankind have been convinced
that the fate of empires depends on the
education of youth." ~Aristotle~
We all know that "The pen is mightier than the sword", but are we on the brink of an age which is to be dominated by forces greater than the pen? For many centuries now the written word has indeed been a mighty instrument of change. In 1439, Johann Gutenberg created the first moveable type printing press, stole the written word from the hands of the academia and the clergy, and released its power to the unwashed masses. Life has never been the same. For the last five and a half centuries, the written word has been used not only as a sword, but as a political tool, a means to enlightenment, a repository of all of mankind's knowledge, and of course as a lighthearted diversion from the weariness of this world. When looking at the sweeping changes brought about by such a revolutionary invention as the press, it is easy to forget that something else of import occurred on that day in 1439. As the written word was truly reborn on that day, so the spoken word began its final decent into oblivion. We don't often think about it, but until the advent of the movable type press, books of any kind were extremely rare, and literacy among the common layperson was almost unheard of. Any knowledge one might acquire in these times came either from personal experience or from the spoken word. Family history, mythology, spirituality, and much else were all passed from one generation to the next by way of stories and songs. Now, nearly six centuries after the first book was printed in Gutenberg's press, the spoken word has almost completely died as a means of conveying any lasting knowledge of any type. So, if the printing press killed the spoken word, what will kill the written word? It is increasingly clear that we are on the verge of a complete shift in the way that we share information. If the mode of this sharing from time immemorial has been the spoken word, and the world after 1439 was dominated by the written word, then the 20th century through the present has been, and is increasingly becoming, an age of the image. In my grandfathers day, any individual with even a rudimentary education was at least somewhat versed in classical works of literature, from Shakespeare to the Bible. Likewise, a student on the cusp of the 20th century needed a firm grasp on the mechanics of grammar to even gain admission to high school. Lets jump forward now to the present, and look at some startling statistics. One third of students graduating from high school will never read another book for the rest of their lives , and 42 percent of college graduates will never read another book. How inexpressibly sad and confusing. Where then will they get their knowledge? How will they unwind? How will they keep up with the times? How will they learn from some of the greatest minds ever to put pen to paper? But I digress. First let me share a few more statistics. 80 percent of US adults did not buy or read a book this year, and 70 percent haven't even so much as darkened the door of a bookstore (source). What is going on? Truly to a great extent it is that we have traded our words for images,but is there not still a need for the written word? Although it is true that the written word has yet been outmoded as a means of sharing information, the pressure put upon it by our shifting world of images has caused drastic changes in how we view it. Words today have to be accessible very quickly in order to compete with images as a purveyor of information. In fact, since the advent of the internet
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