The Alphabet vs the Goddess

[Richard Mateosian <xrm -at- EMAIL -dot- MSN -dot- COM>]

I just heard Moira Gunn interviewing Leonard Shlain, author of Art
and Physics and, most recently, The Alphabet vs the Goddess. A lot
of it sounded like warmed over Elizabeth Gould Davis, but his main
thesis is very interesting.

The basic idea is that the introduction of writing about 5000 years
ago rewired our brains and totally changed society. In this century,
the introduction of electronically mediated images has rewired us
again, leading to another massive social change.

What brought it home to me was his assertion that the books that
have shaped our society -- works of history, philosophy, literature,
and science -- are thick tomes, devoid of pictures. I'm not sure how
Shakespeare fits in, and the works of Euclid and Newton did use
pictures, but the point is largely true. In fact, even up to 25
years ago, most technical writing was heavy on prose and light on
pictures. Technical illustration was a specialty, not something that
writers tossed in effortlessly as they went along.

Shlain talks about how images like the mushroom cloud and the view
of Earth from space have affected people in our time as profoundly
as any book. Television, the laser printer, the Web -- who knows how
these things are changing us?

I've seen a huge increase in the amount and role of visual content
since I've been reading and writing technical documents. Is this
just because our tools are better, or is our audience changing as
well?  ...RM


Richard Mateosian <srm -at- cyberpass -dot- net>    www.cyberpass.net/~srm/
Review Editor, IEEE Micro                Berkeley, CA

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