Can we stop with the book bashing!

“the end of Books” – really? Just like the telephone killed face to face conversation I guess.

“[A] possession that has lost so much of its utility that only the well-to-do can afford to have one around anymore” – umm what ? I live in a small town, in this small town is a thing called a library, in this library there are books which I can read for free! Whilst on the internet reading this weeks reading about hypertext once again degrading the use of books, I’m spending money on power keeping my computer on, paying the phone bill so I can have access to the internet to read this, so although the page in particular didn’t cost anything to get access it still costs on other ways. I’m not saying that the books in the library didn’t cost anything to begin with but it is all relative. I know we touched on the fact that the internet is not the ideal hypertext and is only a primitive form but still, are there going to be absolutely no costs whatsoever to this all powerful hypertext in the future? Of course there is, because although it is a communistic dream we live in a capitalist world.

It is stated briefly in this reading but I think a big factor to this argument, they are two different things and are not fighting for the one position.

I understand that being able to chose where you go in terms of hypertext and having that liberty is good in certain ways. but it is far too shallow a thought to encompass every notion that goes towards information and story telling in particular. Why do we have stories? Where did they come from? Lets take the example of Oedipus, for those of you who don’t know Oedipus is a Greek tragedy. Oedipus is given the prophecy that he will kill his father and will wed his mother, Long story short; he attempts to change his destiny but in doing so actually fulfils it. If you know the whole story you’ll understand my point much better. If we chose Oedipus’ fate in a hypertext type state then how are we to get the essence of the story, how can we get the moral of the story and learn from it if we go by what we chose. I guess what i’m trying to say is, stories are a way we can learn, by hearing other peoples stories we take on their knowledge. If we create it all ourselves won’t that stunt our learning capabilities? It may not turn out that severe but worth thinking about in the hypothetical.

And sometimes its good to have a beginning middle and end.