Civilization’s education, culture, and the economy will never be the same.

Documentation and Education

“Before print was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years.” – Henry David Thoreau

How different would our society be if we did not have print to document and teach us science, art, and history? The invention of the printing press kicked off a movement of learning that led to the entire world becoming more educated. Print endowed the world with a treasure house of wisdom and knowledge that had since been hidden from view.

Print creates a significant impact on the human brain in general. Neuroscience research shows that paper-based contents offer special advantages in connecting with our brains. You can read more about this in our previous post, “The Paper is Mightier – Advantages of Working on Paper over Working on Screen”. Print has a direct influence on all of our senses and can impact emotion. When a person reads, they experience. Experience is a key to memory and knowledge. Knowledge is a key to freethinking.

Freethinking and Social Change

Print is wings for the mind; it is a conduit for each individuals ideas to impact the rest of the world.

Print has always been a driver not only in the way we think and has also been a driver in the things we think about. Words and stories have the power to transform an individual or even a culture. Printed materials give those words the power to do so.

Much like the Internet today, after the invention of the printing press, the information being sent out to the masses became difficult to regulate. People who had few sources for information such as the church or word of mouth were now starting to think for themselves. Historians argue that this was the first real switch of power from the Roman Catholic Church to the people.

Communication and Economy

Print and civilization are intricately tied together.

The freethinking sparked by the invention of print led to a rapid increase in communication and economic growth. Consider the westward moving America and the expansion of the population into rural areas. How would they have been reached if not through direct mail? Cities were seedbeds of ideas and business practices. Many downtown companies used print to reach the rural areas for their business growth. In this way, print, packaging and direct mail had far-reaching consequences. Cities developed*, the economy grew, and the world was brought closer together.

 

*For more information on the development of cities through print, read “Information technology and economic change: The impact of the printing press” by Jeremiah Dittmar