On 5 Mar, 16:01, ornamentalmind <[email protected]> wrote: > Illiteracy appears to be on the decline: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy > > Sometimes a visual is interesting too. > > http://www.mapsofworld.com/thematic-maps/world-illiteracy-map.htm > > Of course, the USA has its issues. > > http://www.caliteracy.org/rates/ >
That reminds me of a time when my father had mentioned to a work colleague from Alabama that "the South has the highest illiteracy rate in the country." And the guy responded by holding out his hand (as if to shake my father's hand) and saying, "Put 'er there!" Implying that he didn't understand that it was NOT a compliment, thus proving the point. My father had to really restrain himself from bursting out laughing at the poor bloke. > Other > sources:https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/21... > > And, it is obvious that definitions affect all such reporting. > > On Mar 5, 5:37 am, Pat <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On 4 Mar, 02:02, Molly <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > "If the novel goes the way of live theater – a medium appealing to > > > only a small, relatively rarefied segment of the population – what, if > > > anything, will be lost? What can a novel do for us that other art > > > forms can’t?” > > > >http://siobhancurious.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/encountering-the-other... > > > > What do you think? > > > I don't think it's likely to go away. In fact, the newer concepts of > > e-books are more likely to fade away than pen-on-paper due to the > > potential for electronic sabotage. Whilst Great Libraries (like > > Alexandria) may burn and destroy many instances of great works, the > > concept of writing won't fade unless the entire species is wiped out, > > as even most illiterates know about writing and, given a crises, may > > re-develop it, as illiteratacy doesn't, of necessity, imply > > uneducability or lack of intelligence. Heck, we still have The Epic > > of Gilgamesh (an example of a very old 'novel') written in cuneiform > > on clay tablets, and that's lasted for thousands of years. > > > Even human extinction may not wipe out literature from the Earth, as > > it may pave the way for other species to evolve and create their own. > > It would be interesting to hear the tales written by intellectual > > insects: The Story of the Lazy Bee; The Emperor Moth's Post-Pupate > > Clothes; 50 Ways to Kill You Lover by B. Widow and P. Mantis. The > > list goes on...- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.
