[DaltonCoffee]

"Every extension of mankind, especially technological extensions, has the effect of amputating or modifying some other extension[…] The extension of a technology like the automobile “amputates” the need for a highly developed walking culture, which in turn causes cities and countries to develop in different ways. The telephone extends the voice, but also amputates the art of penmanship gained through regular correspondence. ways.” — Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

Love this quote, and many others by MM. Utterly blows my mind how we seem to be failing to apply and extend his teachings to help understand this modernity beta test we're participating in.

[sbf501]

...and the pen/quill/cuneiform killed the saga since people could now write it down, so why bother remembering to tell a story around a campfire at a certain time a week? (sound familiar today?)

I get the point, but I think "amputates" is the wrong word, like user "tootie" below who said "obviates" is the right word, but was downvoted into greyville. Tootie is right: it alleviates the need for something. It doesn't kill it entirely.

When the technology breaks, we still need to communicate. So yes, teach people how to write their language (or more!) But cursive writing has always been notoriously riddled difficulties due to individual hiccups in style. I agree everyone should know how to write in the simplest form: printing English/European languages, simplified Chinese, etc. But flourishy cursive is only readable by people who wrote it with artistic skills, or kids that were drilled for hours and hours on end, when there is plenty of other more important stuff for them to learn, IMHO.

[nonrandomstring]

I think you'd really like Lewis Mumford too.

Ellul, Mumford, McLuhan, Postman and Illich constitute (accessible [1]) Technological Critique 101. I think they are essential reading for anyone who claims to be a "technologist" and wants to deeply understand the anthropological relations of humans and our technology.

[1] Without digging into Heidegger and more difficult stuff.

[tootie]

I think "obviate" is a better term than "amputate". I mean, who the hell cares about penmanship? Absolutely useless skill.

[lock-the-spock]

While I empathise with your position I can totally see how others might not. Letter writing is a specific skill to provide a dense and clear message. You have to prepare this message in your head first as you cannot (attractively) eliminate what you wrote already unless you redo the whole letter. Im sure many people today would have benefitted from more occasions to hone thinking and preparation ahead of expressing views or opinions.

Similarly you could say remembering phone numbers is a useless skill that many had pre smartphones - you just knew your 30 or so most used numbers. Now we all depend on our phones and once the battery is dead many people don't seem to know any number by heart.

[karaterobot]

Because it's a metaphor. "Extension of mankind" implies, poetically, a physical connection between mankind and technology. Physical connections are amputated, not obviated. A withered limb isn't obviated, it's cut off. So, amputated.

[whiddershins]

I would recommend (the now outdated) The Brain that Changes Itself. All about nueroplasticiy. The brain will literally prune what you don’t use, and certain skills, such as the fine motor skills required by developing penmanship, can plausibly have wide reaching impact one way or the other.

[gfodor]

I got an incredible amount of pushback on twitter when I posted that I think we should ditch handwriting in schools in favor of accelerating typing skills earlier.

[bmitc]

Damn, how have I not heard of Marshall McLuhan before? Getting that book now.