Monday, March 16, 2026
The Orality Theory of Everything
The Atlantic: The world is full of theories of everything. The smartphone theory of everything argues that our personal devices are responsible for the rise of political polarization, anxiety, depression, and conspiracy theories—not to mention the decline of attention spans, intelligence, happiness, and general comity.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
My phone is by far my least favorite thing that I own, yet I spend so much time on it every freaking day. The smartphone theory is one I fully subscribe to. Housing theory of everything.. I don’t know that not having enough homes is necessarily the issue. There are a lot of empty houses, in fact. People just can’t afford them. The orality theory… I was under the impression that this wasn’t a theory. I’m actually decently sure it’s a fact. Written language developed independently all over the world in many different cultures. We are the only species on the planet that uses it. It gave us a way to keep records, keep history, and create art, and as the author points out, it gives us a way to do that independently. Obviously it’s one of the most important developments in human history. I personally believe that this is a silly theory, because all it boils down to is “humans inventing written language was super important!” Which isn’t a theory. That’s a fact.
Post a Comment