Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
On the other hand, the reading I do for pleasure is for pure pleasure, and not done to gain knowledge, as such. As such, it's the experience of reading a book that's the important part, not the memory of having read it and the information I've gained from the book. That's not something that "neural uploads" would be substitute for, I suspect.
So I'd make a clear distinction between reading-for-pleasure and reading-for-knowledge.
|
Exactly. This is what I was trying to express using a hypothetical situation. The each method of 'input' of information to the brain has its own importance. Not all texts are suitable for a single method of input, be it reading, listening or 'neural upload', the term you coined very appropriately. While I would more than welcome a 'neural upload' of Principia Mathematica into my head, I won't appreciate an upload of Stephen King's or Agatha Christie's novels. I would prefer to literally 'read' them on a cozy sofa with a steaming cup of coffee!
Similarly, there must be some genres of books which will be most suitable for 'listening' instead of 'reading' or any other futuristic method of input yet to be invented. I can not tell which, beacuse my serious journey in the land of audiobooks is yet to begin.
Perhaps some other experienced 'listeneres' may explain in details.
Surely enough, the selection of best 'method of input' for various genres of text will depend on the individuals, best suited to their own physical and mental needs, as explained by cvkemp above.
This may be probably another strong reason why emergence of ebooks did not obsolete the print books, the audiobooks will not kill the ebooks and the neural upload will not extinct other methods of 'input'. Perhaps the humans will still be keeping a book-shelf in their homes after few hundread years.
I know this thought is radically opposite to the fact that the transistors fully replaced the vacuum tubes, and IC chips replaced the transistors over time, but I believe, in case of written text, the case is going to be different. All various 'methods of input' will find a place in peaceful coexistance with their individual importance for us.