J3- Marin Arsenault

In my opinion, writing is the simple act of translating thoughts within the brain onto a tangible technology such as paper.  Writing includes grocery lists, poems, graffiti, and any other words on a tangible source.  To me, technology is something that at one point was an innovation.  I know that there are many scholars who argue that technology is much more roadd than the definition I provided, but I do not agree.  For instance, take writing Hieroglyphics on cave walls in ancient Egypt.   In this scenario, I do not see the cave wall as a technology because it was always there.  It was never an innovation.  The technology in this scenario is the tool that was used to etch into the cave wall.  Even though the tool might have been there the whole time, it was serving a new, innovative purpose.  Circulation, to me, is when writing became a tool of change as opposed to a means or recording.  Circulation has to be written as opposed to orally translated.  Circulation became possible when the printing press was invented and writing became a tool of persuasion, not merely a means of recording history.  I believe this is also when rhetoric was officially invented because with circulation comes the power of persuasion.  The printing press let one person’s voice be heard on a large scale without any geographical barriers.  Without circulation, one had to be in the same place as the orator in order to hear the speaker’s persuasion.  So, in short, writing is the simple act of translating thoughts onto a tangible platform.  In order to write, one needs a technology to transfer the thoughts to paper, such as pen and paper.  These are technologies.  Circulation is delivering the message that one writes to an audience outside of the individual’s physical location.  Writing cannot exist independently from technology although writing and technology can exist independent of circulation.  Though when one thinks of the modern day definition writing, one often think that circulation accompanies it.  Writing, technology, and circulation make up today’s definition of rhetoric.