Earlier quoted context omitted.
"He considers himself well-informed..."
We can’t all be the brilliant mind that would think this scintillating comment worth sharing.
So true.
It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
341–349 of 349 posts
Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
#342[flagged]
It's true; I also started reading the comments before clicking the article. Show of hands?
Some jazz hands 'cause I don't want to upset the sensitive Atlantic readership. No, did not read it, did read Clockwork Orange back in high school, still reading every day 42 years later but then I did not attend an Ivy League uni in the 2020's so that probably explains a lot.
Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
#343I was somewhat surprised to find out that illiteracy does not mean that someone needs to be a total (or near) analphabet - but rather that it is a broad and wide spectrum. I always imagined that “teenagers can’t read” meant that they couldn’t read at all, but then I never met such a person. Reading is definitely a skill that needs to be learned and maintained. Going from reading a couple of hundred words, to even a l…
I recently argued with someone in their 60s who argued, in total sincerity, that nobody should ever need to read or write more than 500 words at a time. I asked about Terms of Service agreements, hospital paperwork, etc, and she insisted that it was not a useful skill. I think she might qualify as illiterate. (For reference, your comment and my reply combined make for about 180 words.)
reading "Terms of Service" is useless if you are not also understanding Terms of Service, and once you understand Terms of Service, you also understand how you are being shafted by signing up to them since 99% of Terms of Service are for their benefit.
I propose a new metric: you feed any terms of Service into an AI that outputs "It will realistically cost you X litigious dollars to win against these terms." That's all the signee really needs to know.
Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
#344Education is too obsessed with reading.
It's passive cognitive copy paste.
Writing seems way more important. Requires reading and establishing one's own voice.
But writing in school (at least the district my ex worked for) is focused on boring research essays. There's little if any time spent fostering creative writing.
Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
#345GenX here... I thought this was a great read. I still hope for a young rebellion against the forces the presented in the article. And the author does point out some reasons to hope. Personally, I read and write every day. I usually have 2-3 books I'm going through at any one time. I've noticed that on long-haul flights, the movies typically hold no interest and I just read for hours—what a luxury to have nothing else…
Ditto!
Love reading and writing on paper, but do read and write quite a bit on computer screens, too. Phone screens are too small and uncomfortable for me.
No TV at home, either. And even videogames, which I love, have held less and less interest unless they have good coop modes, an unusual mechanic, or excellent sound and story.
Leaning more and more towards playing music, which has felt like a present from the gods.
Having read McLuhan — https://archive.org/details/bwb_P8-ASW-848 — and Lanier (You Are Not A Gadget), I worry about the future, but am hopeful young people will indeed rebel.
Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
#346The Atlantic.....mouthpiece of the globalist hegemonies and military oligarchs.....
right.... yeah....thanks for nothing
Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
I recently argued with someone in their 60s who argued, in total sincerity, that nobody should ever need to read or write more than 500 words at a time. I asked about Terms of Service agreements, hospital paperwork, etc, and she insisted that it was not a useful skill. I think she might qualify as illiterate. (For reference, your comment and my reply combined make for about 180 words.)
reading "Terms of Service" is useless if you are not also understanding Terms of Service, and once you understand Terms of Service, you also understand how you are being shafted by signing up to them since 99% of Terms of Service are for their benefit. I propose a new metric: you feed any terms of Service into an AI that outputs "It will realistically cost you X litigious dollars to win against these terms." That's a…
Reading ToS and PP is easy and useful and you will find that not all are the some. Some PP are short and very easy to consume, and those are the best. And some ToS are free from arbitration clauses which (in the US) preclude most litigation in the first place. These are the best.
People who are literate can assess these without an AI, and I am not going to assess that 'metric' as if it's a serious proposal.
Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you don't like to read? I assumed that people who enjoy software would be into intellectual stimulation but I've learned that this is wrong. So HN is OK with being extremely condescending toward others as long as it's a general group of others, not a specific HN user? Just imagine this sentence with almost any other activity: "You don't like to run? I would have assumed that people who enjoy physical activity would…
Brother, I took a look at your comment history and I think you're projecting. I also noticed on your profile that you've submitted literally nothing to this site but have made lots of comments, usually negative ones. To paraphrase Justified: if you met an arrogant person in the morning, you met an arrogant person in the morning. If you meet arrogant people all day...
"You can't possibly be right about something being mean, because you're negative about things". Do I have your argument correct?
Re: It seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you also run into the attention deficit effect of all these short forms of media? Overriding my brain's desire to put a book down after a couple pages is certainly not my favorite pastime.
Part of that might be your book choice. I found that when trying to rekindle my reading habit, book choice had a big effect. Some books are like vegetables you know you should eat but really don't want to and other books are junk food. Empty calories that you love. Pick from the latter pile at first and rebuild the muscle.
Nope that's not it for me, but appreciate the discussion!