Writing: A Necessity? Essay -- History Philosophy Essays

Writing A sine qua non?What, specifically, is so necessary about writing? What inspired the first cavemen to exercising an instrument (bone or stick) dipped in the indelible dyes derived from plants to create petroglyphs upon a wall? Why did the ancient Egyptians find it necessary to formulate a butt that would create the first papyrus sheets making lecture a portable commodity? What was it that made Gutenberg want to simplify the printing process so that text could be mass-produced and disseminated to more people? George Farquhar (1678-1703) is attributed with the quote, sine qua non is the mother of invention. In light of this statement, I must ask again, what is so necessary about writing that the need to do so has given(p) rise to the invention of paints and inks, the stylus and pencil and quill, the fountain pen and ballpoint, typewriters and fonts, and lastly computers and word-processing? I believe there be two very innocent and basic reasons behind this so-calle d necessity of these created inventions reasons as elderly as mankinds innate human nature.First of all, people confide to progress this desire transcended mere touch and hand signals or facial expressions and became language. Not to trivialize and condense the ages of development into a paragraph, but as more complex concepts arose it created the need for more complicated symbols and signs to convey kernel accurately. Human memory being what it is, fallible and ultimately terminal, written language became the vehicle to transport the second, and probably more important factor in the continuing invention of written technology people want to withdraw from something of themselves to posterity. This may be in the form of a story, a poem, a last will and testa... ...r of invention at least where the desire to communicate is concerned. History has shown mankinds aspirations to not only leave a message behind, but to invent better processes to preserve and spread those messa ges. I cannot conceive of sending a message to my sister in azimuth on the sycamore leaf from my backyard faintly inscribed with charcoal from an old apple tree stump. Chances of it arriving in one piece would be slim. However, with at onces technology, I can email her or engage in instant messaging. Technology has made communication easier and quicker, but to this I must add one more question has it made it better? When we are limited and each word becomes a painstaking choice, perhaps the cargo of the message becomes greater, clearer, more profound than when we have the ability to run on and on chasing a flashing cursor across a promiscuous white page.