Oh how the scribes of the ancient world must be rolling in their graves. Their trade has transformed from one of necessity, to one of antiquity and arbitrariness. The creation of the printing press transformed the way documents were produced and ultimately distributed. Books, once a commodity only available for the wealthy, has become a tool available for the masses. Not only can the modern man access a wealth of knowledge by walking down the street to the local library, but motivated individuals can also find a plethora of knowledge with a tap from their finger via the World Wide Web.
I wonder what Johannes Trithemius would say about the writing community today. He argues in his essay, In Praise of Scribes that despite the invention of the printing press scribes should still be utilized and respected. One of his main points involves the piety associated with such a profession. He claims that a scribe working for the Church, “preserves faith, destroys heresy, dispels vice and promotes morals and virtues.” To me this makes sense only in the context in that the texts these monks were copying were sacred texts. I do understand the idea behind the piety of handwriting verses printing, because I do feel closer to my work if I hand write, but with advances in technology the Scribes has ultimately become obsolete. The modern day scribe is the modern day scholar or plagiarist utilizing copy paste all day long.
No comments:
Post a Comment