The printing press, invented in 1440, created the book. The very first book printed was the Bible which has been one of most printed books in history.
The book privileges the eye and creates the literate individual.
The book has now become the content of the net. As a result it has risen in status, as do all media, when they are superseded.
The book has been superseded by the electronic media: the electric telegraph in 1840, the telephone, the radio, the television, and now the computer. The electronic media use the book as content and create the electronic tribe in the global village.
The book based on the phonetic alphabet created civilisation, and we can now see the electronic media are not civilised.
The traditional tribes were replaced by literate civilisation, and now civilisation is being replaced by electronic tribes, who have already begun their disrespect for civilisation, particularly their disrespect for free speech.