The Author and Authority

[Mole]

A book has an author and so a book has authority.

And so it is only natural to think the universe has an author who, naturally, has authority.

But the first book was printed by Johannes Gutenberg in 1640, in the seventeen century, so the author and hence authority only came into existence about 500 years ago.

So we might reasonable think that the author of the universe and their authority also came into existence about 500 years ago.

And as the book played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific revolution, and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy, and the spread of learning to the masses, it has enormous, overwhelming authority.

So it is unthinkable that the book is dead anymore than God is dead.

Yet with the invention of the electric telegraph in 1840 the book was relegated to the content of the electronic media, just as the manuscript had been relegated to content of the book in 1640.

So we can't help but think that the author of the universe has been relegated as well.

And as a corollary, we notice that the institutions that house the author of the universe are losing their authority.

 

[Cellmold]

Independent expected to announce closure of print editions | Media | The Guardian

 

[LovecraftianMonstrosity]

https://libraryofbabel.info/bookmark.cgi?fblkhywmktzd385

A book has an author and so a book has authority.

And so it is only natural to think the universe has an author who, naturally, has authority.

But the first book was printed by Johannes Gutenberg in 1640, in the seventeen century, so the author and hence authority only came into existence about 500 years ago.

So we might reasonable think that the author of the universe and their authority also came into existence about 500 years ago.

And as the book played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific revolution, and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy, and the spread of learning to the masses, it has enormous, overwhelming authority.

So it is unthinkable that the book is dead anymore than God is dead.

Yet with the invention of the electric telegraph in 1840 the book was relegated to the content of the electronic media, just as the manuscript had been relegated to content of the book in 1640.

So we can't help but think that the author of the universe has been relegated as well.

And as a corollary, we notice that the institutions that house the author of the universe are losing their authority.

-The Library of Babel

Your words were prophesied unto us in the The Library of Babel oh not in the usual way by an old man having a vision, but in the purity of mathematics invoking infinite universes unto the void. Which leads to an interesting thought. If every post on this forum has already been written then how do we distinguish ourselves, our thinking, whatever processes like an algorithm generating random collections of words in our brains from the infinity encoded to us in the rational numbers? Perhaps we are the self-replicating/ self-deprecating/ self-amusing proteins between the layers of clay of the mad random typing monkeys that compose the universe unwittingly, unwillingly, and ever so lovingly. Qwatz!

 

[Mole]

https://libraryofbabel.info/bookmark.cgi?fblkhywmktzd385

The Library of Babel

Your words were prophesied unto us in the The Library of Babel oh not in the usual way by an old man having a vision, but in the purity of mathematics invoking infinite universes unto the void. Which leads to an interesting thought. If every post on this forum has already been written then how do we distinguish ourselves, our thinking, whatever processes like an algorithm generating random collections of words in our brains from the infinity encoded to us in the rational numbers? Perhaps we are the self-replicating/ self-deprecating/ self-amusing proteins between the layers of clay of the mad random typing monkeys that compose the universe unwittingly, unwillingly, and ever so lovingly. Qwatz!

It may be even simpler. Most of what we write here, including myself, is in cliches.

And cliches, as they say, have been in too many mouths, but on the other hand, cliches form the very basis of archetypes. And as this is Typology Central, archetypes are central to what we do here. Indeed mbti consists of 16 archetypes.

So as the electronic media (and here it is the internet) proceeds apace, we are moving from the literate, original, individual to the to the electronic archetype. And we are doing this ourselves every day.

Of course our minds have not caught up with this, and we fancy ourselves as individuals, just when we are turning into archetypes.

 

[LovecraftianMonstrosity]

Do you believe individuation is not increasing in successive generations?

 

[Mole]

Do you believe individuation is not increasing in successive generations?

Individuation is a result of literacy which creates the literate individual.

So as literacy increasing in successive generations, so individuation also increases.

However we now learn to use the radio, the television, and the internet naturally at home without being compelled by State law to go to a special institution, with specially trained teachers, to learn to use the electronic media
.
And the electronic media do not create individuals or individuation, rather the electronic media create electronic tribalism.

So on Typology Central we are replacing the literate individual with the electronic tribe, in this case, the etribe of Typology Central.

Of course books don't disappear, they merely become the content of the internet, see my signature below.