Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 13, No. 359.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 22:49:53 +0000
From: Ken Litkowski <ken@clres.com>
Subject: Re: 13.0352 Nunberg article online
> literacy both as crucial for social advancement and as ensuring an
> enlightened civic discourse. As J. P. Quincy wrote in 1876, "[To the
> free library] we may hopefully look for the gradual deliverance of the
> people from the wiles of the rhetorician and stump orator. . . . As
> the varied intelligence which books can supply shall be more and more
> widely assimilated, the essential elements of every political and
> social question may be confidently submitted to that instructed common
> sense upon which the founders of our government relied."
>
Seems that we have heard these words used about the Internet. Doesn't
seem as if we've been delivered from the rhetorician and stump orator.
Less and less is said with more and more. In 50 years, will my
grandchildren look at similar statements made in the fin de siecle of
the last millennium and laugh at the naive prognostications of the great
Internet democratization? Probably, but we will make strides toward
turning information into knowledge.
-- Ken Litkowski TEL.: 301-482-0237 CL Research EMAIL: ken@clres.com 9208 Gue Road Damascus, MD 20872-1025 USA Home Page: http://www.clres.com
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