The year 1984 passed us by and we breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that Orwell was wrong about a few things. Let's hope a prediction that recently appeared in the World Future Society's magazine, The Futurist, suffers the same fate. According to William Crossman, founder of the Institute for the Study of Talking Computers and Oral Cultures, "We're witnessing the beginning of an earthshaking transformation of human society away from print culture and toward oral culture. By 2050, writing and reading will mainly be a thing of the past in the electronically developed countries." Crossman contends that Generation Y's present affinity for video, audio, radio and film over print technology is a sign that human biology is driving us toward speech-based modes of communication vs. print. Will literacy go the way of the dinosaur? Please. Those kids are still gonna need to be able to read the buttons on their cell phones. (301/656-8274)
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