...Gutenberg's Revolution transformed the world by broadening it, by proliferating ideas. Zuckerberg's Revolution also may change consciousness, only this time by razing what Gutenberg had helped erect. The more we text and Twitter and "friend," abiding by the haiku-like demands of social networking, the less likely we are to have the habit of mind or the means of expressing ourselves in interesting and complex ways.
That makes Zuckerberg the anti-Gutenberg. He has facilitated a typography in which complexity is all but impossible and meaninglessness reigns supreme. To the extent that ideas matter, we are no longer amusing ourselves to death. We are texting ourselves to death.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. Martin Luther
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Difference Between Gutenberg and Zuckerberg
Neal Gabler (in the LA Times):
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