While the Steve Jobses and Ray Kurzweils and Jeff Bezoses of the world have prophesied and profited from technological advances with startling accuracy, a biologist with some insight into the human race made some observations back in 1974 that apply to our scene. The following nuggets come from Lewis Thomas's The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher:
“Given any new technology for transmitting information, we seem bound to use it for great quantities of small talk.”
“We are only saved by music from being overwhelmed by nonsense.”
In the book, Thomas draws interesting comparisons between the types of language employed by humans and other species. The most intriguing is that of the ant colony, where the (blind) social insects transmit masses of information through sound, touch, and primarily smell.
The word-driven basis of our creaturely communication is, I think, to credit or blame for the way our technologies have and will be used. Why are text messages more popular than video chats? Why is Instagram its own network, when Twitter and Facebook carry the same functionality? While the contents of the latest gizmos and medias will continue to change rapidly, the functional needs and desires of the users are similar to those that have unrolled papyrus and pushed carriage returns.
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