The Civilization of Illiteracy | Page 4

as practical experience The institution of the military From the
literate to the illiterate war The Nintendo war (a clich‚ revisited) The
look that kills
Book Five The Interactive Future: Individual, Community, and Society
in the Age of the Web Transcending literacy Being in language The
wall behind the Wall The message is the medium From democracy to
media-ocracy Self-organization The solution is the problem. Or is the
problem the solution? From possibilities to choices Coping with choice
Trade-off Learning from the experience of interface
A Sense of the Future Cognitive energy Literacy is not all it's made out
to be Networks of cognitive energy The University of Doubt Interactive
learning Footing the bill A wake-up call Consumption and interaction
Unexpected opportunities
Foreword
No other time than ours has had more of the future and less of the past
in it. The heat and beat of network interactions and the richness of
multimedia and virtual reality reflect this time more than do the pages
you are about to read. I wish I could put in your hands the new book,
suggested on the cover, as the first page following all those that make
up the huge library of our literate accumulation of knowledge.
Let's us imagine that it exists. As I see it, the book would read your
mind.as you pause on a thought and start formulating questions. It
should enable you to come closer to the persons whose thoughts are
mentioned here, either through further investigation of their ideas or by
entering into a dialogue with them. We would be able to interact with
many of the individuals making this fascinating present happen.
The emergence of a new civilization, freed from constraints borne by
its members during a time to which we must bid farewell-this is the

subject of the book. Science and technology are themes of this
intellectual expedition, but the subject is the ever-changing human
being. The civilization we are entering is no promised land, make no
mistake about that. But it is a realm of challenge. Tentative upon
entering the territory of new possibilities, we have no choice but to go
ahead.
Some-the pioneers, inventors, entrepreneurs, even politicians of the
so-called Third Wave-rush into it, unable to contain an optimism based
on their own opportunistic enthusiasm (as real or fake as it might be).
The young lead, unburdening themselves of the shackles of an
education which made the least contribution to their innovative
accomplishments.
Others hesitate. They don't even notice the chains of a literate heritage,
a heritage that buffers them, as it buffers us all at various times, from
the often disquieting changes we experience at all levels of our
existence. In the palace of books and eternity, we were promised love
and beauty, prosperity, and above all permanence.
Disinheriting ourselves from all that was, we are nostalgic for our lost
sense of continuity and security. Still, we cannot help feeling that
something very different from what we used to expect is ahead of us.
We are excited, though at times apprehensive.
It might be that the cutting-edge language and look of Wired, the
magazine of the Netizens, is more appropriate to the subject than is the
elaborate prose of this book. But this is not yet another product of the
cottage industry of predictions, as we know them from Naisbitt, Gilder,
or the Tofflers.
To explain without explaining away the complexity of this time of
change was more important to me than to ride the coattails of today's
sound-byte stars. Solid arguments that suggest possibilities
fundamentally different from what they are willing to accept, or even
entertain, make for a more deeply founded optimism.
If you get lost along the intellectual journey to which this book invites,

it can be only my fault. If you agree with the argument only because it
tired you out, it will be my loss. But if you can argue with me, and if
your argument is free of prejudice, we can continue the journey
together.
Try reaching me, as my thoughts try to reach you through this book.
Unfortunately, I am not yet able to hand you that ideal book that would
directly connect us. Short of this, here is an address you can use:

[email protected]. Let's keep on touch!
Literacy in a Changing World
Thinking about alternatives
Preoccupation with language is, in fact, preoccupation with ourselves
as individuals and as a species. While many concerns, such as terrorism,
AIDS, poverty, racism, and massive migration of populations, haunt us
as we hurry to achieve our portion of well-being, one at least seems
easier to allay: illiteracy. This book proclaims the end of literacy, as it
also accounts for the incredible forces at work in our restlessly shifting
world. The end of literacy-a chasm between a not-so-distant yesterday
and the