Obviously you don't subscribe to technological relativism/determinism, but the medium has everything to do with what the message contains. You don't write detective novels on papyrus for a reason.
Detective novels require a printing press and cheap paper because you read them once, and you need many of a lot of them to sustain a market. That is why the detective novel is a 19th century invention.
You can argue that the computer won't fundamentally change the way we use the English language, but it will change it because it already has, just as paper changed English from its use on parchment, and just as pulp based paper allowed for detective novels to arise; a genre with its own subculture and language that is associated with it.
Orwell wrote this same essay with more style and more grace in 1946. He also wrote it with a point in mind. It's called 'Politics and the English Language'. Google it and read it instead of this lame Wired article.
This essay is just a rant and that the coming generation is doomed, doomed, doomed! People have been saying that about the coming generation since ancient times. Ironically for someone who criticizes the emptiness of writing in the modern age, the author also says very little. Some writing by some people sucks. There are a lot of some people. Duh.
The author also ignores the enormous quantity of written material produced on a daily basis. Just because his friends and acquaintences are semi-literate doesn't mean the rest of us travel in the same circles of bad grammar and poor diction. It's really a sort of pompous thing to say from a position of authority that 'the world' can't write, read MY article it will tell you so. Sigh. Noob.
If any of you read Jared Diamond's Collapse you would see the conclusions Diamond draws as to why societies like Australia have to be much more conservative.
You can complain all you want about a silly video game not being allowed in the country, but you should bear in mind those conservative views stop more 'liberal' ideas of 'let's try this and see what happens'. Ideas like cane toads or cows. You know what hooved animals do to the soil? Look it up.
The US and Australia are not the same place socio-politically so applying American values to Australia really doesn't make sense. If the Australian government as permissive as the US to business interests the country would have probably been a barren wasteland years ago (more so I mean).
Argue all you want about it, but being conservative is not a bad thing; sure it's a silly decision, but it's indicative of the socio-political climate of the country not some old guy who doesn't like video games and thinks gamers are evil. More likely he is someone who has seen the fuckups government has made by allowing industries (industries like the video game companies) do whatever they please. So be glad you have tight-ass politicians who think more regulations are good not bad because had their been more tight-ass politicians back in the day there might have been more objection to the swell idea of introducing rabbits for some good ole' entertaining fun.
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Obviously you don't subscribe to technological relativism/determinism, but the medium has everything to do with what the message contains. You don't write detective novels on papyrus for a reason.
Detective novels require a printing press and cheap paper because you read them once, and you need many of a lot of them to sustain a market. That is why the detective novel is a 19th century invention.
You can argue that the computer won't fundamentally change the way we use the English language, but it will change it because it already has, just as paper changed English from its use on parchment, and just as pulp based paper allowed for detective novels to arise; a genre with its own subculture and language that is associated with it.
"The medium is the message."
Orwell wrote this same essay with more style and more grace in 1946. He also wrote it with a point in mind. It's called 'Politics and the English Language'. Google it and read it instead of this lame Wired article.
This essay is just a rant and that the coming generation is doomed, doomed, doomed! People have been saying that about the coming generation since ancient times. Ironically for someone who criticizes the emptiness of writing in the modern age, the author also says very little. Some writing by some people sucks. There are a lot of some people. Duh.
The author also ignores the enormous quantity of written material produced on a daily basis. Just because his friends and acquaintences are semi-literate doesn't mean the rest of us travel in the same circles of bad grammar and poor diction. It's really a sort of pompous thing to say from a position of authority that 'the world' can't write, read MY article it will tell you so. Sigh. Noob.
If any of you read Jared Diamond's Collapse you would see the conclusions Diamond draws as to why societies like Australia have to be much more conservative.
You can complain all you want about a silly video game not being allowed in the country, but you should bear in mind those conservative views stop more 'liberal' ideas of 'let's try this and see what happens'. Ideas like cane toads or cows. You know what hooved animals do to the soil? Look it up.
The US and Australia are not the same place socio-politically so applying American values to Australia really doesn't make sense. If the Australian government as permissive as the US to business interests the country would have probably been a barren wasteland years ago (more so I mean).
Argue all you want about it, but being conservative is not a bad thing; sure it's a silly decision, but it's indicative of the socio-political climate of the country not some old guy who doesn't like video games and thinks gamers are evil. More likely he is someone who has seen the fuckups government has made by allowing industries (industries like the video game companies) do whatever they please. So be glad you have tight-ass politicians who think more regulations are good not bad because had their been more tight-ass politicians back in the day there might have been more objection to the swell idea of introducing rabbits for some good ole' entertaining fun.