A better pencil: Reading Response

Writing is truly a great technology. After the development of the written form of languages, human developed more technologies, such as printing press, pencil, etc., to enhance the way we write. Dennis Baron, who wrote A Better Pencil, even consider computer as a technology that enhance writing. Indeed, computer is probably the most wonderful invention in history that totally changes the way we use our language. 

When writing first came out, Plato argues that it only weakens human memories. However, Plato probably didn't know that there are too much stuff which is impossible to memorize all of them. That's why human needs a written form of language to help us keep things which we couldn't memorized. Baron argues that people write down those things that we "want it in writing."  Maybe just like Plato says writing weakens our memories since we don't have to memorize something we already wrote down. However, writing as a technology actually allows us to store more knowledge than before.

It is always wonderful that human can develop new technologies upon the old ones in order to improve the way we uses old technologies. Writing is a great example that we use new technology to improve the old ones. When the writing first came out people used to write on tablets, stones, walls, etc. After the invention of paper we could keep the writings more easily. The printing press allows us to produce more books and spread the writings more quickly. The invention of the pencil helps as to write more easily. Through thousands of years we have developed so many different technologies to improve the way we write. 

Yet, the process that we improve the way we uses text hasn't stooped. As Baron suggest, computer is also a new technology that enhance the way people uses writings and even changes the way we use it.  Nowadays authors can write their books with laptops instead of pen and  papers while readers read from screens instead of books. Computer also brought us many new types of writing such as email, blog, etc. Moreover, computer allows us to put text on the internet and spread the words more quickly than printing press and its databases can store information thousands times more than a library can. Thus, computer really is a powerful technology that totally changes our writings.

In a nutshell, technology is a wonderful thing that improves human civilization; and with the improvement of out knowledge and civilization we can develop mote technologies. So maybe next time when new technology came out, instead of complaining about its weakness and problems we should also think about what benefits it and bring to us.

Orality and Literacy Reading Response Part 2

Writing, as Walter J. Ong mentioned, serves human as a technology just like computers. Perhaps very few of us noticed that because writing is so common in 21^st century which most of us understand it. However, the situation is very different thousands years ago there are only very few people know how to write and read. Indeed, writing should be treated as a technology, and whenever a new technology come out it usually brought lots of critiques. According to the book, Plato argues that “writing destroys memory,” which I believe many people lives in 21^st century would disagree with his opinion. In my opinion, I even believe that writing helps people to memory stuffs. Maybe Plato had that kind of opinion because he didn’t fully understand about writing since writing is a new and rare technology back in his time; just like many people in 21^st century do not fully understand what computers and digital technologies can do.


A new technology which people don’t fully understand always brings problems and critiques. Thus, as a technology writing also faced the same issues hundreds ago. It is wonderful that human beings developed so many writing systems through hundreds and thousands of years. To me, I believe writing is not only a technology, but also a cultural products which represent certain civilizations. 


As the author mentioned, before Yi Dynasty Korea uses Chinese characters as their writing system. Nowadays, there are still many languages or Chinese dialect that uses Chinese characters as their writing system. A writing system with a powerful culture is likely to spread and influence other cultures. Before Qin Dynasty, there were seven different kingdoms uses seven different writing systems in China. After Qin conquered the other six kingdoms the emperor implement a new writing system and wipe out all the other writing systems in China. Therefore, I believe that writing is not only a technology, but also a cultural products that represent a civilization and its power. 

Orality and Literacy Reading Response

In the book "Orality and Literacy", Walter point out how "writing" serves as a technology, how it transformed through times, and how it interact with oral speech. I strongly agree with his opinion that "writing never without orality." When ever people read text we always connect it with oral speech in our mind or speak out loud. The appearance of writing indeed enhance the way we use our language. Furthermore, Walter also mentioned that writing really helps humans to spread knowledge. Unlike ancient times before a written form of language people can get knowledge through reading instead of listen to the old men and women about their experience.

However, I am a little bit disagree with  Ferdinand de Saussure and Henry Sweet's opinion that Walter mentioned in his book. Saussure thought that "writing as a kind of complement to oral speech, not as a transformer of verbalization"; while Henry insisted that " words are made up not of letters but functional sound units or phonemes. Maybe their opinion might be true based on English or some other languages, but I don't think it applies to all the other languages in the world. At least their opinion won't applied to Chinese language. Foe example, sometimes a Chinese words can represent more than two different pronunciation. Unless we know the meaning of the word in the certain context we probably won't pronounce it correctly. Moreover, Many Chinese dialect such as Cantonese sounds just like a completely different language while we still use the same writing system (Maybe a little bit different.) Yet, the writing form of Chinese language still based on oral speech.

In my opinion, the reason that writing form of a language always exist with oral form is that people always learned how to speak before we learned how to write and read. Further, when we learn how to read and write we always connect to  the word with the way we speak. Therefore, writing will always connect with a oral form of language.