In the modern world the incredible
mobility we have available to us rarely crosses our minds. It’s hard to imagine
a world where ideas can’t be spread instantly. A world where the latest news transports
to a device in your pocket instantly. A world where a computer can be can be
carried in a backpack. To really appreciate the mobility of the modern world it
is important to compare it to the past.
Early rhetoricians established
schools. They had small dedicated groups of students that learned the teachings
of Aristotle and Plato. These students were the earliest form of a network and
up until then were the primary platform to give an idea mobility.
This limitation could be seen in
the writing. Spreading simply by word of mouth meant that every person’s
opinions and experiences would shape how the next person receives the ideas.
Not having the wealth of information available to us now instantly meant that
research was a tedious and a rarely accurate process.
With the printing press we saw
improved mobility. Now ideas were written down and copied, meaning that they
would retain their original meaning. Collections of books and texts were
available to those who had accesses to physical copies of them. Writing became
more crafted for a wider audience.
Fast forward to the modern day.
With technologies available to us now writing is different than ever before.
Essays are published online and available to everyone. Books can be immediately
searched and downloaded. Hundreds of thousands of articles are published every
day and videos of the latest speech or rally are always available.
The sheer availability of knowledge
has allowed for a massive spread of ideas and a monumental improvement in
research. We are a smarter and more well-read species due to our new
technologies whether we realize it or not.
Many argue that the internet and
computers is slowly killing local libraries and by extension research and
primary documents. While casual writing and opinions may be favorable online,
the idea that the internet is making research irrelevant is simply absurd.
Mobility has made writing into a more researched and higher quality essential
part of the world we live in.
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