Is Writing a Technology?

In class on Monday, we had a very complicated and confusing discussion. Is writing a technology? After a long and thought out discussion we came to the conclusion it is in fact a technology. And J.D. Applen’s chapter solidifies that statement.

Reading this chapter was like a breath of fresh air. I did not have to reread sentences or sections a million times. I know that this is unrelated but “Ey” needed a break from Eyman.

There were many things from this text I found interesting and relatable to other texts/media. Yeah, “Ey” lived long enough to see myself become the villain. The part where Applen mentioned Urbandictionary.com and how a computer wouldn’t understand its words reminded me of a class I took last semester. We talked about how AI can write something for you, but it wouldn’t sound human. A computer couldn’t use slang like “‘to google something’” because it doesn’t have that understanding like humans do.

Does Writing Help?

There was another part where Applen mentioned how oral cultures focus on imitating and emulating how others do things. This reminded me of a video where Trevor Noah talks about how he learns different languages or accents. He mentioned how he simply mimics or copies what they say or how they sound. He also says thats exactly what babies and children do and thats how they learn language. I found this part quite interesting. But how can written language help?

Of course I knew about oral cultures, like Plato times, telling stories without them being written down. However I never thought about them having to sit and memorize these stories for some reason. That took me by surprise for some reason but it does make the most sense. There’s no way they could just remember a whole story from first listen.

Because of the technology of writing being created there was no need to focus on memorizing a story. With this people had the oppurtunity to create more stories and more elaborate thoughts. So although it waas complicated coming up with an answer it is clear now how society benefits from this technology.

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Oral Communication Or Written Digital Rhetoric in Ads Because of Digital Literacy Technology and writing What a Literate Culture Lacks (According to an Oral One)