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Literacy rewired our brains; will digital literacy free us again? Shlain describes the shift from orality to print as one that upset the balance between men and women resulting in lower political status/power for women and ultimately, patriarchy and misogyny. Fascinating book!

Gutenberg pause as power grab? In retrospect, you could filter it that way. Hard to imagine (for me anyway) a cabal of men sitting together and saying to themselves, "Now we need to shift to print as way to keep the women down." I can see it as an emergent effect from some other more potent and probably simpler need. Although power is a pretty simple need. Literacy as guild of men only? A boy's treehouse with no girls allowed? Hmmm.

Response to Dave's question, Week 4, on books and stupidity.