#60-61

Long before our chairs became mobile and our eyes became crossed to fixate one foot in front of us at all times, none of what we currently consider technology existed. People spoke to each other. In person. All the time. ALL THE TIME. Most of them couldn’t read, most of them couldn’t write, and certainly none of them had heard of instant messaging. 

Then came the printing press. The Printing Revolution led to an explosion of knowledge, an explosion of accessibility, and an explosion of specialization. The printing press allowed for rapid reproduction of literary works, most notably the Bible. The church played a big helping hand in encouraging literacy as Martin Luther spearheaded the Protestant Revolution, and every person was to be their own priest. As literacy rates increased, people had access to more information as they could now read up on whatever topics they were interested in; it wasn’t necessary to track someone down to ask questions they may or may not be able to answer. Because information was so accessible, people could deeply understand and research topics that, before, neighbors had little knowledge of, leading to higher specialization.

On the other hand, the press actually led to the standardization of a lot of stuff. The same versions of books were circulating Europe, leading to one single, correct dialect. Deviations from that dialect were then considered slang. Uniting people through language broke down a lot of cultural barriers, and facilitated the transfer of even more ideas and information. Beyond language, printed copies led to standard weights and measures, policies and procedures, and the foundation of bureaucracy. Researchers needed some sort of reliable baseline to conduct experiments and record results. Volumes on law and precedents gave rise to widespread standard procedures, ultimately giving people a justice system; therefore a big administrative entity.