Now, the concern is for the state of writing or the printed word. Is the legacy of Gutenberg in danger? The evolutionary forces of technology have today created electronic books and interactive multimedia. Is this just a natural extension of past technology? Are there any differences between reading a book and reading an online book complete with pictures, sounds and moving images? These are some of the issues Sven Birkerts explores in The Gutenberg Elegies.
The greatest absurdity of this section is that it is a hyperlink attempt to communicate to you about the dangers of "electronic communication." The material below does not do justice to the premise of Birkerts book. I suggest you read the book to appreciate a fuller understanding of Birkert's arguments.
Birkerts basic premise is that "we are living in a state of intellectual emergency-an emergency caused by our willingness to embrace new technologies at the expense of the printed word." He goes on to say that "we are turning against some of the core premises of humanism-indeed, we are putting the idea of invidualism itself under threat." Birkerts worries that "our growing immersion in interactive electronic communication is cutting us off from the civilizing powers of the written word, that electronic books and interactive videos will leach away our capacities for reflection."
Birkerts says that our attempt to embrace these new technologies is leaving us little time to think about what we are leaving behind. He says that with electronic communication (television and computers) impression and image takes precedence over logic and concept and that detail and linear sequentiality are sacrificed. "The pace is rapid, driven by jump-cut increments, and the basic movement is laterally associative rather than vertically cumulative."
This derives from the fact that print is essentially linear or sequential. Print "is a forward-moving succession, with earlier contents at every point serving as a ground for what follows". He goes on to say that "the physical arrangements of print are in accord with our traditional sense of history." Certainly hypertext, the ability to jump laterally to associated material, is a very different concept than the more linear form of print. He says that "every lateral attainment is purchased with a sacrifice of depth."
Birkerts outlines three developments we might watch for in the "all-electronic future."
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