15 hours ago
- The orality theory of everything, based on Walter Ong and Marshall McLuhan, argues that the shift from oral to literate communication restructured human consciousness, and the decline of reading and rise of social media is again transforming thinking.
- Literacy enabled abstract thought, solitude, and linear thinking, while digital orality brings back features of oral culture: conversational, viral, memorable, with heavy characters and malleable history.
- In politics, figures like Donald Trump use epithets and heavy character styles reminiscent of oral traditions, while media theorists like Meyrowitz predicted loss of trust in experts and a 'no sense of place' due to electronic media.
- AI chatbots are conversational but not agonistic, potentially representing a return to interiority similar to literacy, contrasting with the competitive nature of social media.
- The article emphasizes the value of studying early media theorists to understand contemporary digital culture and its pathologies.