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Printing Press

2 GoKawiil briefs on this topic

Book explores how punctuation shaped literacy and social power

A review discusses Florence Hazrat's book on the history of punctuation, tracing marks like the period, question mark, exclamation point and semicolon to specific historical origins, including Aristophanes of Byzantium and eighth-century Irish monks who invented word spacing. Hazrat argues no new punctuation marks have been added since 1600, aside from emojis.

Ancient Text Shows Socrates Warned Writing Would Weaken Memory

A 2011 blog post revisits Plato's Phaedrus, in which Socrates retells an Egyptian myth about the god Theuth presenting King Thamus with the invention of writing. Thamus rejects Theuth's claim that letters improve memory and wisdom, arguing instead that reliance on written words would make people forgetful and only give an illusion of understanding.