Re: orthography and pronunciation

On Wed, 11 Apr 2001, John Cowan wrote:

> Andreas Johansson scripsit:
>
> > Lemme explain: almost all paper used in books today is made from trees and
> > contains a certain amount of an acid which English name escapes me at the
> > moment. Thanks to this, the paper will selfdestruct in about a hundred
> > years. To quote the Swedish physist-novelist Peter Nilson, "in 2100 they'll
> > wonder why people ceased to write books in 1870".
>
> There was a bad period there (and I have lost books to it) but now acid-free
> paper is quite common.  <plug>The Lojban reference grammar is printed on it.
> </plug>
>
> > In addition, diskettes only last a few years, while most other digital media
> > last a few decades. In the future the 1900s will probably be considered a
> > Dark Age ...
>
> We don't really know how long CDs will last.  But it hardly matters: the point
> is that whatever is in active use will get copied and transcribed over and over.
Whoah.  What you describe *there* is an oral,k not a written, culture.
Are we now an oral culture?  *staggers*  SAeriously.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
                Living your life is a task so difficult,
                it has never been attempted before.

Reply