Writing as a technology

Manguel and Baron discuss the histories of the technologies as a way to enlighten us and show us how spoiled the new generation has become with the advancements in technology. I believe that they also want to show us how these advancements have effected our ways of writing and thinking.

Baron discusses the old ways of writing and the many advances in technology. He also touches on the advantages and disadvantages of the new technology. In his essay, he starts out by telling us how the new technology came about. He believes that the new technology became available to the new generation because of the decrease in the prices and the availability of it to the world. This shows us that years ago there was not as much money and access, so other resources were not an option. When Baron made these comparisons, he showed us that when these advances in technology were not available, it seemed like people worked harder and put more effort and thinking into their writings. We went from ink in a jar to pens, form pencils without erasers to mechanical pencils. Now, we do not even use pen and paper to write, we use computers that do all of the spelling and grammar usage for us. Baron also made a comment that the only thing we use pen and paper for is a signature. When you think about it, that is very true. In conclusion, writing has faded away with the advancements in technology.

Manguel focuses on books and progresses in their shapes and forms. It seems that books from many years ago were not as easy to carry around. They were larger, heavier and required you to sit in one place and read them. They were not as portable as they are now. Even now with the advancements in book forms, it still seems like there are some people who still sit at a table and read a book, no matter its size. Also, with the advancements in books and there forms, books have become decorations for a room, but are still being read by millions of people. By changing the shapes and forms of books did not make a person want to read the book any more or less it just provided readers with a curiosity about the book.

Both of these essays seemed to focus on the advancements of technology in reading and writing and the outcomes of these advancements. The advancements in the technology of writing has pulled people away from the traditional ways of writing and thinking, while the advancements in books has not stopped people from wanting to sit down and read books.

I can relate to Baron description of the advancements in the technology of writing. I have forgotten how to write, in a sense, and when I am writing an essay on the computer, I do not on the correct spelling of my words and the correct usage of my grammar because I know that my computer will correct any of my errors.

Plato and Ong discussed the importance of writings and the benefits that it would have on future generations. It seems that their suspicions were correct because due to new technologies people do not take into consideration, the luxury of writing.