6. A Twenty-First Century Pentecost [Next | Previous | Contents]

Tongues of Babel

Have you heard a computer ‘speak’? Probably, you have heard the telephone information service respond to your request for a number with a synthesized voice which reads out the number. Or you may have heard your bank balance read by a computer or heard appliances, clocks, and children’s toys and games ‘speak’ to you with a robotic voice. Most of these applications are simple uses of a powerful tool — a computer which can speak. Within a few years business and domestic applications of this tool will become more and more common and complex, as the software which produces a voice matures.

A number of companies have developed products for voice synthesizing. These products vary in their range of ability. Sophisticated examples include the MITTalk system [1] which first became available for licensing by industry in 1979, Text to Speech (TTS), a product of a Swedish firm (Infovox AB of Stockholm), [2] Bellcore’s ORATOR, [3] and a product called The Reading Edge from Kurzweil Applied Intelligence. [4] A less sophisticated product is TextAssist from Creative Technologies which came bundled with SoundBlaster cards. These products take typed text as input and convert it into spoken words. This type of software has a number of current applications. For example, when customers of a bank “want to get information about their accounts, all they need nowadays is a push-button telephone. They dial the bank’s computer and are answered by a synthesized voice system that asks for their ID numbers and what options they require. By using the phone buttons, they can get synthesized voice answers to most questions about their financial status.” [5]

Speech synthesizing systems like these will also be used to provide information about airline schedules, the weather, and stock quotations. It will be possible to have the text of E-mail messages read to you over the telephone or on a personal computer or to have the contents of a newspaper article read out. “Infovox believes that since speech is the most natural form of communication, it will become a highly popular method of interaction between people and machines.” [6] IBM has developed a ‘human-centred’ system for its line of PowerPCs which interacts “with the users through ‘conversational surrogates’ — computer generated faces whose eyes and facial muscles move as they speak.” [7]

Ears of Tin

A second related technology is voice recognition. “A revolution in office automation is just around the corner with the perfection of voice recognition technology.” [8] Desktop computers can now be directed by voice commands. Commercial voice recognition systems, available today, have limited vocabularies (of a few thousand words) and have difficulty accepting input at normal conversational speeds. But this software is being continually improved, and within a few years software on personal computers will be sophisticated enough to allow a person to speak at a normal rate to give commands or dictate text. [9] Some see this as an extension of our normal way of communicating, [10] while others believe that natural language interaction with machines will be too clumsy and slow. [11] I believe that voice communication with machines will eventually become as common as leaving messages on an answering machine is today.

At present, commercial voice recognition systems are being used for such things as data entry at meat auctions, routing baggage at airports, entering medical reports in hospital emergency rooms, selecting options from the telephone company, and entering inspection results on assembly lines for printed circuit boards. [12], [13], [14] In applications where a person’s hands are in use, voice commands to direct a machine provide the equivalent of a third hand and increase safety and productivity. These systems generally recognize a limited vocabulary, only isolated words or deliberate speech where words are enunciated carefully with gaps between the words, and only after they have been trained to the operator’s voice.

In the computer laboratories are prototype systems which may eventually recognize continuous speech found in a normal conversation in almost any ambient environment. [15] These will support a large vocabulary (100,000+ words) and cross a range of accents. This form of speech recognition will take some time to develop for general commercial use, for the following reasons:

• The approximately 40 phonemes (sound units) used in English may be combined in many ways, and the pauses in spoken English often do not occur between words. Instead two phonemes, one from the end of one word and the other from the beginning of a second word, can be joined together with the pause being before or after the joined pair (coarticulation) and can occur in phrases such as gas station or this ship. This makes it difficult for a computer to map the sound onto models and to distinguish words. [16]

• Certain words are rarely enunciated when we speak, for example, a, and, and the. Also, we tend to slur some words together and a person listening supplies the missing letters. This can be shown by placing noise over one letter on an audio tape. The listener will report hearing both the sound of the letter and the noise.

• Homonyms (such as: to, too, and two, or four, for and fore) are difficult to decipher, and the software has to have a set of built-in contextual rules for establishing which word was used.

• Computers do not yet have the advanced capability to add contextual information to what they are ‘hearing’.

• It is difficult for a computer to pick out the sound of the voice of the person addressing it from the voices of others nearby and the general noise in the environment.

However, these problems are being addressed in commercial research labs such as at Bell Northern Research [17] and in the universities. [18] Commercial products with increasingly powerful generalized voice recognition systems are continually appearing from companies such as IBM, [19] Apple, [20], [21] Toshiba, [22] Siemens [23] and other, smaller, companies. [24], [25], [26] Research work in Artificial Intelligence “suggests the possibility that someday language-understanding systems ... will be able to learn to parse new types of sentences, continually expanding their own grammars to encompass more and more of natural English.” [27]

Within the next decade the voice-operated computer which can take dictation will become common. [28], [29], [30] The hardware and software for voice recognition is under development at such places as Microsoft, IBM, and MIT’s Brain and Cognitive Science Lab. Initially the talkwriters (such as IBM’s Personal Dictation System, [31] or Dragon System’s Dragon Dictate [32]) will have to be trained by the operator. A list of words and phrases will be read to the computer a number of times at various speeds. From this, the computer will build models of the user’s speech patterns. Eventually generic voice recognition by computer may become a reality. The nearness of this reality can already be experienced with VoiceType which is bundled with OS/2 Warp. This software has generic voice recognition capabilities within a limited domain. [33]

When talkwriters become widely available, a person will be able to communicate with the talkwriter at about 150 to 180 words per minute. This is about twice the speed an experienced secretary can type, and considerably faster than the average manager can type. This will change the nature of preparing text in offices:

The early technology used a typist ... because it was klutzy ... today we have scribes called typists. But as soon as the new technology makes it easier to capture the message, to correct it, store it, retrieve it, send it, and copy it, we will do all those things for ourselves — just like writing and talking. Once the klutz-factor is eliminated we don’t need the typist. [34]

Dictationists will be relics of the past in the office of the future. By the year 2000, there will be no stenographers’ pool. In place of the steno pool will be computerized voice machines into which office personnel will dictate their letters. When they’re finished dictating, they’ll push a button that instructs the machine to type the letter. ... As it’s typing, the machine talks the letter through to the person who dictated it. [35]

The talkwriter is but the first step towards a new medium for communication. Initially, the text of a letter (or any document) which has been entered on a voice decoding machine will be printed. But once the information is in digital form, there will be little reason for printing it on paper. With the development of convenient display devices, it will be easier and cheaper to display the text on an electronic screen. But this will be only the second step.

The third step, which will introduce a totally new medium, will be the elimination of the display of text. “In the future, working with computers will be more like working with people. The machines will understand and respond to human speech — even recognize the person addressing them.” [36] It will no longer be necessary for a person to display the text of a letter or other document. Instead the recipient will ask the computer to read the text to him (at any speed). It will not be necessary to hear the text at the same speed at which it was spoken.

I have a variable speed tape recorder which allows me to record at normal spoken speed but to play back at up to twice the speed. It electronically removes pauses and other small slices from the voice, but leaves the pitch unchanged. It only takes a few minutes to get used to a person speaking at twice normal speed, by slowly increasing the speed of the speaker. I used this tape recorder during some of my course work to allow me to reduce the time (by half) it took to listen to taped lectures. The retention rate of information is higher since concentration is more acute and the mind does not have time to wander as when listening to a speaker at a normal rate.

The computer will be able to read out information at any requested speed. If it reads it out at twice normal spoken speed, you will hear it at about 300 words per minute. This is the speed at which a good visual reader is able to read text. Listening to a computer read text will not take any longer than visual reading and may result in improved comprehension on the part of the person listening.

The talkwriter and its replacement, the fully conversational computer, will first appear in commercial office environments. But the use of the conversational computer will quickly move into all areas of life, including the home. A person wishing to communicate with another person will be able to use this new medium instead of, or with, E-mail and the telephone. This will be similar to sending a cassette tape by mail but cheaper. It will be as simple to use as a telephone.

In this medium you will be able to dictate a message on your personal computer in your office or home and direct the computer to send the message to an associate. Within seconds the message will be waiting in his electronic mailbox. He will be able to display the message if he wishes (even though you spoke it) or will be able to hear it spoken (through a built-in speaker, or headphones) with an exact replication of your voice. If he has a sense of humour he may change the gender and accent of the voice and hear you talking with a German or Japanese accent.

The development of the conversational computer will require us to change the way we view personal communication. “Once we use electronics we should ask, what is the best form for a message? Does it need to be written at all? Once we are able to have messages delivered almost instantaneously, the way we utilize them changes completely.” [37] The impact of this new medium is going to be significant.

Simultaneous Translation

Another advance in computer technology which utilizes both voice synthesization and voice recognition, is simultaneous translation by computer.

Automated translation by computer has been the subject of much research for as long as there have been computers. Early work was quite optimistic. [38] For example, Marshall McLuhan said in 1964 that “today computers hold out the promise of a means of instantaneous translation of any code or language into any other code or language. The computer, in short, promises by technology a Pentecostal condition of universal understanding and unity.” [39]

However, it was soon realized that generalized language translation is very difficult. Translation from one language to another cannot be done simply by looking up words in a translation table (dictionary), or even by adding knowledge about the grammatical rules of both languages. In the same year that McLuhan made his prediction it was noted:

Work in mechanical translation has come up against a semantic barrier. ... We have come face to face with the realization that we will only have adequate mechanical translation when the machine can ‘understand’ what it is translating and this will be a very difficult task indeed. ... ‘Understand’ is just what I mean. ... Some of us are stepping forward undaunted. [40]

Automated translation fails where general information about the world is needed in order to make a meaningful translation. Human translators work within this context (almost without realizing it) and can move ideas as well as words and phrases from one language to another. Computers do not have this context within which to work, and it is difficult (I believe impossible) to provide them with this context to make generalized language translation a reality.

The problem can be illustrated by reference to language constructs such as idioms, similes, metaphors and other figures of speech. For example, in Old Testament Hebrew the expression ‘son of eighty years and six years’ (Gen 16.16) is translated into English as ‘eighty-six years old’. In New Testament Greek the expression ‘on the it’ or ‘in the presence of the self’ (e.g., in Acts 2.1) is translated into English as ‘together’. A classic example used by those who are writing about automated translation by computer is the expression ‘time flies like an arrow’. How is the computer to interpret this? Is it to get a stop watch and time a bunch of flies like it would a flying arrow? Or is it being told that a type of creature, a ‘Time Fly’, likes an arrow (to eat)? Or is it being offered a statement about the speed with which time passes? Another example can be illustrated by the word round which can be used as a verb (round up cattle), noun (first round), adjective (round table) or preposition (round the world).

Even though it will be difficult (impossible?) to develop programs and databases for computers which will make generalized translation possible, specialized translation within known contexts will become possible. [41], [42] At present, translation systems are applied well in highly specialized environments. For example, “a Canadian system called METEO successfully translates English meteorological bulletins into French. This is possible because such bulletins are written in a very simple consistent language. It is only occasionally that the machine translations need any correction.” [43]

Xerox is using computers to translate manuals from English into other languages. The manuals have a restricted grammar, and about 80 percent of the translation is acceptable, and the rest can be corrected by human translators in much less time than it would take to translate the entire manual. [44]

Other translation systems are being developed and utilized in various contexts. In 1989 the European Community was undertaking a large ($30+ million, and 80 researchers) project called Eurotra to develop a technology to provide machine translations from one European language into any one of the others. [45] This project has evolved into Systran “which today converts hundreds of thousands [of documents] a year, although the quality is still rough.” [46] In Japan at Toshiba and NEC, similar work is underway. [47]

There are a number of vendors in North America selling translation systems including Microtac Software and Globalink Translation System. These companies have products for translating among languages such as English, German, French, Spanish, Russian and Italian. The basic software is available for the IBM Personal Computer and costs around $100. Apple has a similar product for its Macintosh line of computers which will work with 31 different languages. [48]

Some of these personal computer-based products display the text of the two languages in parallel columns and provide text processing features or work with standard word processing packages such as WordPerfect, and permit the human translator to operate with the text to improve machine translation. Other software products work as voice translators and not only translate text, but recognize the user’s spoken words and translate these into a foreign language. [49], [50] At Carnegie Mellon University a speech-to-speech translation system has been demonstrated and has won for the person conducting the research an award at an international artificial intelligence conference. [51], [52]

The existing automated translation systems indicate that translation will work best in situations where the context (world model) is limited. This will be the case when conversational computers become available. They will have built-in personal-characteristics modules to retain the voice templates of the individuals talking with them. But these modules will be able to do more than just recognize voice patterns in order to abstract words. To abstract words correctly, they will be programmed to learn new words, idioms and phrases used by the individuals speaking with them. These will be recorded in their databases. When the machine does not recognize a string of sounds, it will ask the speaker to repeat them and to provide an explanation of the meaning.

Over a period of extended use each person’s computer database will come to contain almost the entire spoken vocabulary and collection of sub-sentence units he uses for communicating with the computer and with other people. This will be a major step along the path to automated translation.

Additional research will be done in defining the syntactic rules for source and destination languages. Noam Chomsky set the direction for this area of study in his work Syntactic Structures. [53] The practical outworking of the theoretical work is beginning to appear. Products such as Grammatik from Reference Software and Rightwriter from RightSoft have a significant knowledge of the English language and will alert an author of grammar and punctuation mistakes, and possible style (e.g., extensive use of the passive voice) and syntax errors. They also will point out misused, archaic, trite, awkward and pretentious phrases, and the use of jargon and trademarks. [54], [55]

Shortly many other products like Grammatik will become available. But these will be only the first generation. Within the next few decades amazing products will be introduced which will have a detailed ‘knowledge’ of language structure, and will be able to ‘learn’ as they interact with humans. [56] Accurate automated translation will become a reality when the computer ‘knows’ the complete context of an individual’s spoken and written language and has a set of precise syntactic rules about a number of languages.

The very powerful computers and software which will be available in the next few years will make possible the automated ‘instantaneous’ translation which Marshall McLuhan predicted in 1964. You will be able to speak to your conversational computer, and the person with whom you are speaking will be able to hear you in his own language. [57]

Wizards and Drones

“New technology results in unemployment. This is arguably untrue over the long run, but there is little disagreement that workers who have certain skills are made obsolete at the time when new technologies displace older ones and manufacturing processes change.” [58] The introduction of the conversational computer will make obsolete many jobs such as those filled by typists, typesetters, and order-entry clerks. [59] Some already live in dread of the day when they will be “replaced by a computer.” [60]

The problem of job displacement because of technological change is not new. It has been a problem from the days when copyists were put out of business by the printing press. Since then there have been major shifts in the employment base of western economies, such as those caused by the Enclosure movement, the industrial revolution of the 18th century, the invention of automobiles and tractors to replace horse-drawn conveyances, the rural-to-urban migrations which continued in the West until after the Second World War, and the movement from an economy based on resource extraction and manufacturing, to one based on services.

Since the Second World War, government cushions such as unemployment insurance, retraining, and relocation programs have been applied as attempts to help displaced workers. But the greatest single factor in the provision of new jobs has been the dramatic increase in the size of the economy. The employment base has increased to absorb a large working force of women and the baby-boom population, along with those displaced from their jobs because of changing technology.

The Church has not been a strong player in dealing with the problems of unemployment and job displacement. In fact it has given over to the government some of the functions which the Bible prescribes as within the jurisdiction of Deacons. I do not think that the Church’s role in the economy will change much over the next twenty five years. The government’s power to interfere in the areas of job creation and economic programs is too great, and the Church too weak to have much say in these matters. But the Church may have a role in helping those displaced by the new technologies, the Church will need to work at the local congregation level and re-establish its mission as a loving and caring community. It must assist those within its bounds (and where possible, beyond) who are displaced by the introduction of new technologies.

It is difficult to predict how our society will be structured after the introduction of the conversational computer. Its introduction could have a dramatic impact on the employment base of the West, and there may be mass job displacement. [61] The Church should watch carefully as this new technology is introduced. If trends indicate that significant changes are beginning to occur, then the Church should begin to deal with the problems which will result from widespread unemployment, frustration and fear.

At least some job displacement will be an immediate and direct impact of the introduction of the conversational computer. But a more subtle, yet probably more significant impact, will be in the area of literacy.

Illiteracy is a popular topic of concern of governments, [62] social scientists, [63] educators [64], [65] and critics of public education. [66] It has become a ‘media event’ like cocaine, AIDS, and the urban homeless have been. The Toronto Star ran a major series on the topic. One of the headlines read “Illiteracy in Canada an ‘Astonishing’ 24%.” Another read “Illiteracy No. 1 Problem.” [67] An article a few years later on the same topic was headlined: “Teaching Reading: Are our Schools Failing the Test.” [68] The situation is apparently similar in the U.S. [69] and in Great Britain.

There is a similar concern over the decline in standard test scores. [70] The decline in test scores and the apparently increasing degree of illiteracy are both attributed to an increased amount of TV watching. [71], [72] Marshall McLuhan stated that “the culturally disadvantaged child is the TV child. For TV has provided a new environment of low visual orientation and high involvement that makes accommodation to our older educational establishment quite difficult.” [73]

Children in North America watch as much as 10,000 hours of TV by the age of 16. Adults watch on average three hours a day. [74] This time is not spent on reading. But, even so, only a portion of this time would be spent on reading, even if there were no TV. If there has been a decline in literacy, how much TV has contributed to this, and how much illiteracy there actually is, [75] are difficult questions to answer. Regardless, illiteracy is a problem in the current economic system.

The concern about illiteracy arises from two sources. It is believed that informed decision making in our western democracies relies on information gained through reading, and almost all jobs in our information-based society require the ability to read. [76] The latter seems to be of more immediate concern, since:

[C]hanges in the job market have been reducing opportunities for persons who have difficulty reading and writing. An automobile industry task force found that 80 percent of production operations are expected to involve computers by 1990. The impact upon illiterate workers will be tremendous. [77]

Today millions of people are excluded from the job market because they are functionally illiterate. Even the simplest jobs demand people capable of reading forms, on-off buttons, paychecks, job instructions, and the like. [78]

“Literacy skills affect seemingly simple daily matters as well as complex learning and study, and thereby have tremendous influence on a person’s life.” [79] A level of literacy below what is termed ‘functional literacy’ makes it difficult for a person to read road signs and maps, use a telephone book, read grocery ads, in-store signs and labels on food, complete application and taxation forms, take the written test for a driver’s licence, and perform various job-related duties. “Reading and computation skills are fundamental, and print is not replaceable. Only the literate person can meet the demands of a highly organized, complex, and changing society. The gap between the ideal of a literate society and the reality is great.” [80] As Alvin Toffler says in The Third Wave: “in Second Wave societies ... illiterates were economically doomed.” [81]

Notice, however, that Toffler uses the past tense. The problems faced by illiterates in our society may be temporary from the perspective of the next century. One of the most significant impacts of the conversational computer will be a changed requirement for general literacy in our society.

Brian Herbert is a science fiction writer who in his novel Prisoners of Arionn shows one way in which people may ‘read’ books as they use bookcorders. In San Francisco, in 2086 we read:

When Henry crawled into bed, Rachel was there, slouched against two pillows with her Biblecorder on her lap. A lighted fiber optics scanner traversed the open page, transmitting words to Rachel via a wire that led from the unit to the silver and black earphones she wore. Henry heard the low, monotonous murmur of a minister’s voice from the machine and made out: “The Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, Copyright 2037 by Bookcorder International.”

Rachel always listened to the title page before proceeding to the text.

“Philippians Two,” Rachel said, speaking into a tiny microphone that protruded from the binding. This microphone was connected to the base of a flexible plastic tube that dangled over the open pages. The business end of this tube was an electric-eye scanner, and at Rachel’s command the tube bent low and nudged pages until Philippians Two was beneath the electric eye. The unit also contained a computerized concordance, so that it could be instructed to find particular passages. [82]

Stanislaw Lem, a Polish science fiction writer, in his book Return from the Stars, also gives a good idea of how people could ‘read’ a few generations after the introduction of the conversational computer:

I spent the afternoon in a bookstore. There were no books in it. None had been printed for nearly half a century. And how I had looked forward to them, after the microfilms that made up the library of the Prometheus! No such luck. No longer was it possible to browse among shelves, to weigh volumes in the hand, to feel their heft, the promise of ponderous reading. The bookstore resembled, instead, an electronic laboratory. The books were crystals with recorded contents. They would be read with the aid of an opton, which was similar to a book but had only one page between the covers. At a touch, successive pages of the text appeared on it. But optons were little used, the sales-robot told me. The public preferred lectons — lectons read out loud. They could be set to any voice, tempo, and modulation. Only scientific publications having a very limited distribution were still printed, on a plastic imitation paper. Thus all my purchases fitted into one pocket, though there must have been almost three hundred titles. A handful of crystal corn — my books. [83]

This is not just science fiction. In 1993 Sony introduced a product called Data Discman Electronic Book Player, although it did not seem to gain any market profile. With this product, a three inch optical disk and a small hand-held computer could read out-loud the books stored on the disk. [84]

Early in the next century a person applying for a job as a electrician (for example) will be asked a series of questions by a computer (or human interviewer with the computer listening in). The answers to these questions will be recorded automatically in a database saving the effort of data entry. The computer will take a voice print (giving a more accurate identification than a finger print), and, if requested, will check with the police computer to determine if the person has a criminal record. It will also verify the factuality of the information provided with the computers at the applicant’s former places of work.

Once the person is hired for the job, his instructions will be provided from computerized policy and procedure ‘manuals’. But he will not have to read these. He will be able to listen to an overview about the company and be told what other sections apply to his job. At any time he will be able to ask the computer questions to determine what the procedure is for a specific task. If one exists, the computer will tell him what to do and will be able to display photographs, diagrams and video sequences illustrating the method of performing the task. The computer will also be able to supply answers in ‘virtual reality’ with generated images superimposed on special goggles. “For example, electricians could walk around buildings and see wiring behind the walls instead of deciphering blueprints.” [85] Or a worker assembling an electrical device or component would not have to consult a manual. He would see a virtual step-by-step template appear on his work table. [86]

If an answer to the electrician’s question does not exist, he will be connected immediately to his human supervisor who will give him specific instructions. The computer will listen in on these instructions and will record them (in effect learning) and be able to answer the specific question if asked again.

The employee’s pay will be automatically deposited in his bank account. He will be able to use the money in his account to effect transactions electronically. He will not be required to sign his name. He will complete the transaction via a voice-activated electronic funds transfer (EFT) network. The security check will be based on his unique voice print.

At no time in the employee’s interaction with the machine or in the performance of his duties will it be necessary for the employee to read more than a few words. In fact, it may not be necessary for him ever to read. The conversational computer will not only affect the skilled trades (plumbers, electricians, etc.), but it will also affect all unskilled, service, clerical, administrative, managerial and professional jobs.

Most of us have been educated in highly academic environments and have obtained a major portion of our knowledge from reading. We have a bias towards reading and find it difficult to believe that it will be unnecessary to read to carry on the intricate functions of our society. But if you stretch your imagination I think that you will be able to see that there will be very few jobs which will require the ability to read when the conversational computer becomes available.

When it is no longer necessary to read, most people will not bother to read, or even to learn how to read in depth. Within two generations of the arrival of the conversational computer we will be living in an essentially post-literate society. People will be functionally illiterate. Reading will be confined to such things as advertisements, and signs.

Three technologies (voice synthesization, voice recognition, and automated translation) when combined, will create the conversational computer, which in turn may cause considerable job displacement and widespread illiteracy. The nature of the changes which may result we can only guess at today. But it is likely that there will be a dramatic restructuring of society in some form. “One theory has it that society in the near future will require only two types of workers: highly educated technical experts and a pool of low-paid unskilled workers.” [87]

Whether the wizard-drone theory is valid is the subject of much debate among economists, sociologists and engineers. They can debate all they want, but soon the computer is going to join the debate. Rather than join the debate, we in the Church should watch the trends and plan to be at the leading edge with the Gospel of salvation and with love.

Mount Ebal

How will an illiterate society affect the Church? Is it important that church members be able to read? These are difficult questions to answer. However, it is clear that since the Reformation, reading by both clergy and laity has been emphasized in most branches of the Church. The modern missionary era (circa 1700 - present) has used instruction in reading as a means of gaining access to a culture, as a means of raising the level of self reliance of a group of people, and as a means of presenting the Gospel. The original Sunday School movement also included instruction in reading for the urban poor. [88] Writing of John Wesley, William Iverson says:

John Wesley led a movement that was not born of bare enthusiasm. ... It was a book movement, a reading revolution. He insisted that his helpers “steadily spend all morning in this employ, or at least five hours in the twenty four.” A young evangelist says, “But I have no taste for reading.” Wesley answers (with a ‘certain violence’, as William Barclay points out) that the young man should “contract a taste for it, or return to his trade.” ... Wesley wrote a mere 371 books. ... Yet Wesley was an activist. [89]

Iverson is among those who believe that reading is essential for an educated ministry, and presumably for an educated congregation. He says that “the secular generalist such as Toynbee and the Francis Schaeffer types, religiously speaking, are the need of the day.” [90] He concludes his defence of reading and diligent study with these words. “Read as though your life depends on it!” Ernest Reisinger is another author who argues for the power of the printed word. He says that “the ministry of books can be used to evangelize, teach, train and expel ignorance as it has done in the past. A cursory glance at history should convince us that God has used books and literature to enlighten blinded peoples and nations.” [91]

Reading is viewed as the single most important skill for the creation and maintenance of modern civilization. It is seen by McLuhan as the means of introducing sequential and linear thought into a society:

Nonliterate people simply don’t get perspective or distancing effects of light and shade that we assume are innate human equipment. Literate people think of cause and effect as sequential, as if one thing pushed another along by physical force. Nonliterate people register very little interest in this kind of ‘efficient’ cause and effect, but are fascinated by hidden forms that produce magical results. [92]

Neither Hume nor Kant detected ... our Western bias toward sequence as ‘logic’ in the all pervasive technology of the alphabet. ... Only alphabetic cultures have ever mastered connected lineal sequences as pervasive forms of psychic and social organization. [93], [94]

Even our ideas of cause and effect in the literate West have long been in the form of things in sequence and succession, an idea that strikes any tribal or auditory culture as quite ridiculous, and one that has lost its prime place in our own new physics and biology. [95]

Reading is seen as an important means of gaining insight and understanding about the world. Ray Bradbury, in a recent interview express his concern with the demise of the book and the lack of reading ability among today’s kids. [96] In his novel Fahrenheit 451, he expressed this same concern, especially when Montag and the other ‘firemen’ went to burn the house of a woman who has been discovered with books.

“You can’t ever have my books,” she said. “You know the law,” said Beatty. “Where’s your common sense? None of those books agree with each other. You’ve been locked up here for years with a regular ... Tower of Babel. Snap out of it! The people in those books never lived. Come on now!” [97]

“Master Ridley,” said Montag at last.
“What?” said Beatty.

“She said, ‘Master Ridley.’ She said some crazy thing when we came in the door. ‘Play the man,’ she said, ‘Master Ridley.’ Something, something, something.”
“‘We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out,’” said Beatty.
Stoneman glanced over at the Captain, as did Montag, startled.
Beatty rubbed his chin. “A man named Latimer said that to a man named Nicholas Ridley, as they were being burnt alive at Oxford, for heresy, on October 16, 1555.”
Montag and Stoneman went back to looking at the street as it moved under the engine wheels. [98]

[Later, Montag to his wife Mildred:] “You weren’t there, you didn’t see,” he said. “There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing. [99]

The novel The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco, illustrates the same idea: books and reading are viewed as an important means of gaining insight about the broader world.

Reading is considered to be the best way of building general knowledge. In his story A Municipal Report, O. Henry has Azalea Adair say: “I have travelled many times around the world in a golden airship wafted on two wings — print and dreams.” [100] James Coleman says that “for those who read widely, the ratio of vicarious experience to direct experience grew as their range of reading increased.” [101]

With a similar lesson, an article in Scientific American, states that “both public opinion and scientific evidence are converging on the view that the best way to facilitate vocabulary growth in school-children is to have them read as much as possible.” [102]

Reading is believed to be the source of serious thought, which leads to originality, creativity and spiritual insight. Bradbury, in Fahrenheit 451 speaks of a girl whose family the ‘firemen’ believe to have books:

The girl? She was a time bomb. The family had been feeding her subconscious, I’m sure, from what I saw of her school record. She didn’t want to know how a thing was done, but why. That can be embarrassing. You ask Why to a lot of things and you wind up very unhappy indeed, if you keep at it. The poor girl’s better off dead. [103]

Many other writers state that reading is important as a means to serious thought. Some have stated the following:

We all realize that printing is an extension of the pen. Now we have the quantum leap into word processing, but in the end the dynamic is not in the pen, printing press or computer print-out; it is in the ideas and in the words (in our case) which convey the truth of God’s Word to convert the soul, cleanse the life, inspire, instruct and bless. [104]

Here in the West we are in danger of coming full circle: The visual media created by modern science may ultimately undermine literacy, turning us back into an image-based culture. If that happens, will only an elite be taught to read? [105]

Although I am not against the computer revolution (the computerization of libraries and the vast amounts of information available in computer networks is a great boon), I do think there is a danger when pictures and voices replace written words as the primary means of receiving information. The danger is especially acute for those of us who put so much stock in a rational understanding of a revealed Bible. [106]

Even though there is a lot of concern about the apparently increasing amount of illiteracy and there are strong arguments demonstrating the importance of a literate society, it is also worth noting some points which may give a different perspective on the importance of reading.

Some writers believe that TV and other electronic media provide important experiences which are perhaps more valuable than those gained through reading. For example, we can consider what Coleman and McLuhan say. I quoted above from Coleman to illustrate the role of reading in providing knowledge about the world. But he then added the following:

The emergence of electronic methods of communication such as television has shifted the balance between direct and vicarious experience toward vicarious experience for all of us, and it has done so most strongly for the young. Instead of information poverty they now confront information riches. [107]

McLuhan also speaks favourably of the electronic media as a means of providing knowledge:

In a group of simulcasts of several media done in Toronto a few years back ... the students performed better with TV-channeled information and with radio than they did with lecture and print — and the TV group stood well above the radio group. ... [Another] time each medium was allowed full opportunity to do its stuff. ... Television and radio once again showed results high above lecture and print ... however, radio now stood significantly above television. ... TV is a cool, participant medium. When hotted up by dramatization and stingers, it performs less well because there is less opportunity for participation. Radio is a hot medium. When given additional intensity, it performs better. It doesn’t invite the same degree of participation in its users. [108]

McLuhan had an obvious bias against literate societies and in favour of primitive tribalism where communication was oral and essentially one-to-one. Thus he states that “the era of mechanized printing led to a pedestrian mode of thinking, writing and doing.” [109] This has led one Christian critic to respond by stating that McLuhan believed “that the medium of linear type (and hence the printed page) produced a public mentality that was stilted and demeaning to the sensory and imaginative elements in human nature.”

McLuhan’s “naiveté about human nature” needs to be kept in mind when considering his statements. But we also need to balance this with his observations about the way in which all media have profound and subtle influences on human nature. This applies to the written word as much as to TV. McLuhan has shown that there is also a bias on the part of those who argue strongly for the supremacy of the written word over all other forms of communication.

Literacy tends to bring detachment. For, as McLuhan said, “the literate man or society develops the tremendous power of acting in any matter with considerable detachment from the feelings or emotional involvement that a nonliterate man or society would experience.” [110] McLuhan idealized the pre-literate societies, and so had a bias against the modern literate society. Nevertheless, his observation is true. It is further supported by a casual observation made by Philip Yancy in a article on sin which appeared in Christianity Today. [111] Yancy noted his rationalizing and detachment as he wrote from his “air-conditioned office, with strains of classical music filling the room.”

General literacy is considered by many today to be essential for the preservation of civilization. Yet many civilizations have existed in which only a small portion of the population was literate: the Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Han, Omayyad, Mogul, Ottoman, Aztec, Incan, and Ming Empires. It is typical of our ethnocentrism that we feel that to be ‘civilized’ a culture must be like our own.

It is arguable whether the western attitude to general literacy has really had a long-term, beneficial impact on the quality of society. Literacy has contributed as much to the spread of Communism and evolution as it has to the spread of the Gospel.

We cannot conclude ... that a high level of literacy always accompanies individualistic or egalitarian social policies. Contrary to a common assumption, literacy is not inherently liberating — neither a necessary effect nor a reliable cause of democratic values. Literacy is malleable, capable of serving many functions. “Nazi Germany was one of the most educationally advanced nations on earth,” according to Pattison, “and the dissemination of reading and writing skills must have been universal. ...” [112]

The degree of degeneracy in North America (homosexuality, adultery, violent crime, abortion, murder) is as high (higher?) as that of any other culture on earth. We have stressed the importance of literacy for the past 200 years, yet we live in a modern Canaan.

In this regard, Spurgeon is reported to have said that “The sale of irreligious books is a mainstay to the cause of evil... Think of the infidel publications of England and what is worse than that — the silly trashy novels, from which people learn all sorts of mischief, and which debauch the mind of England: these things do infinite damage, I believe, to people’s souls ...” [113] His proposed solution was “to scatter good books all over the land.”

His approach may have appeared to be the best solution to the problem over 100 years ago. It may have appeared that the best means of counteracting the evils of what was then in print, was for Christians to put more good material in print. But, in light of the fact that Christians have written and published (e.g., Banner of Truth Trust) more good material this century than in any other century, and in light of the events of history since Spurgeon (e.g., the worldwide acceptance of Darwinism and Marxism, two World Wars, the sex-revolution, the sweeping materialism that has consumed Eastern and formerly communist countries, etc.), is it really the case that “scattering good books” everywhere will counteract evil?

The reality is that most people are not reading the good material that is available. The reality is that we are heading into a post-literate era in western civilization. Whether we like it or not, this is reality. More good books will not help at this time.

Professor Sir Edmund Leach, provost of King’s College, Cambridge, writing in the Observer said:

Reading, writing and arithmetic are still basic skills if you want to end up as a synthetic member of the 19th-century liberal middle class or as a still more synthetic member of the 19th-century Whig aristocracy, but these categories no longer represent ‘the ruling class’, and the associated cultural values (despite their continued gross over-representation in the school curricula) are no longer the dominant cultural ideology. [114]

A science fiction writer looking about 25 years forward, has given a similar projection of the general decline of reading:

Rife’s key realization was that there’s no difference between modern culture and Sumerian. We have a huge workforce that is illiterate or aliterate and relies on TV — which is sort of an oral tradition. And we have a small, extremely literate power elite — the people who go into the Metaverse, basically — who understand that information is power, and who control society because they have this semimystical ability to speak magic computer languages. [115]

You may disagree strongly with the viewpoint expressed in these quotations. You may feel that it is important that we return to the principles of an education based on reading. You may believe that if only our schools would return to the basics we would be able to restore some sanity and bring our culture back from its ‘future shock’ and the brink of destruction. But we have started on the path to a new form of communication, and we must face this reality. As Sir Edmund Leach states: “A few centuries from now the study of 20th century alphabetical texts will have become the quaint specialism of a few learned academics, the equivalent of the tiny coterie of present-day scholars who can read ancient Egyptian in its cursive hieratic form.” [116]

Regardless of your view about the importance of literacy, you have to face the fact that today the majority of the population in western countries does not open the Bible, let alone read it for serious study. In addition, many trends make it clear that we will be living in a post-literate society within a generation. It is important that you consider the role of the Church in this kind of society and consider how it is going to reach unchurched illiterates with the Gospel.

Fergus Macdonald, the Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland said that “the transition towards a post-literary society cannot be ignored, for at the centre of our life and witness lies a Book.” [117] He says further that “it will become increasingly necessary in our book-shy age to provide ‘bridges’ to the Bible.” He suggests the use of “leaflets, published in a user-friendly format” and the use of a good translation in modern English. The use of these will help the “habitual non-reader” to become interested in reading the Bible. He says that this is necessary since “in our post-literary society many people react negatively when a large book is thrust before them.”

Macdonald is correct that we need to ease people into serious reading. However, if in fact reading will not be necessary to function in 21st century society, the Church may have to re-evaluate its emphasis on reading. Macdonald hints at this in his address when he suggests that “in our preaching and teaching we have to make greater use of parables and visual aids in order to arrest attention and get our message across.” [118] This will make literary and academic preachers cringe.

It is true that by reading the Bible many people have been saved. This is surely the reason that organizations like the Gideons and other Bible societies stress the importance of getting the written word into the hands of unbelievers. But there is a fundamental question which needs to be addressed. Is it essential that people read the Bible?

Paul says that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (Rom 10.17) The Bible seems to be largely a collection of writings which were intended to be read aloud. Although there are instances of private personal reading of Scripture spoken of in the Bible, there are also many instances where the text was read aloud to the congregation or others. (E.g., Ex 24.7, Deut 31.11, Josh 8.34, II Kings 22.8 (recited), Neh 8.3,8, Jer 36.6, Luke 4.16, Acts 13.27;15.21, Col 4.16, I Thes 5.27.)

The public reading of Scripture is required by the Directory for the Public Worship of God in the Westminster Confession of Faith. It states that “all canonical books of the Old and New Testament ... shall be publicly read in the vulgar [common vernacular] tongue, out of the best allowed translation, distinctly, that all may hear and understand.” This has been the practice of Christendom at Sunday services. Scripture, creed, tradition and practice all indicate that the Bible is intended to be read aloud.

The text of the Bible in the original languages often shows that it was intended to be read aloud. There are many word plays which are based on the similarity of the sound of two Hebrew or Greek words or phrases. “It is easy to gauge the degree of acceptance of print culture in any time or country by its effect in eliminating pun, ... alliteration, and aphorism from literature.” [119] The text of the Bible has a cadence intended for oral reading rather than silent reading. This is clear when considering, for example, the book of Hebrews:

In an argument that merits recognition, he reserves the term ‘rhetorical’ for those features that are best recognized when listening to the Greek pronounced aloud. His argument is based on the premise that because of the lack of printing technology, orators were more prevalent than authors and speeches more popular than books in a society that produced the Biblical book of Hebrews. He argues that all written literature of that time took shape under the influence of oration and according to the conventions of rhetoric (literature was expected to be read aloud, even when reading to oneself, as apparently was the habit of the Greeks). [120]

The tradition of the scribes was to read aloud. This tradition continued in the Middle Ages among the monks. Augustine in his Confessions indicates his surprise when he saw Ambrose reading silently: “When he read, his eyes moved down the pages and his heart sought out their meaning, while his voice and tongue remained silent.” [121] The rule of Saint Benedict said: “after the sixth hour, having left the table let them rest on their beds in perfect silence; or if anyone wishes to read by himself, let him read so as not to disturb the others.” [122] Benedict made this rule “since no one had yet learned to read with the eyes only.” [123]

When punctuation marks were entered into manuscripts during the Middle Ages, their purpose was to indicate to the reader where to put emphasis. They were intended for the ear and not for the eye. [124] For example the ‘?’ and the ‘!’ were both originally intended for the oral reader of a text. [125]

After Charlemagne, when punctuation first became common it was an aid for speaking, or for reading a printed text aloud to an illiterate audience. To help the reader follow the principles of elocution ... which incidentally helped a listener follow the meaning. By the later seventeenth century more printed matter was intended for silent reading. Then punctuation came to be governed by syntax and aimed to show the structure of a sentence. [126]

We have lost sight of the origins of reading. We do not realize that silent reading is a relatively modern phenomenon, covering a period of less than a quarter of the time since Christ’s first coming.

We have also lost sight of the reason why Jesus through the Holy Spirit and the human authors of the Scriptures, wrote the Bible. This was done since, as the Westminster Confession of Faith states, “it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself ... and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.” The word was written down by God to preserve it.

The Bible was given in written form for the preservation of its important message. But once preserved, the proclamation of this message is to be carried out by example, teaching and preaching.

Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History speaks of a letter written by Jesus to Agbarus, king of Syria. Whether or not Jesus actually wrote this letter would be difficult to determine. Even if he did, the letter has not been included in the canon of Scripture. Other than this letter, there is little indication that during his time on earth Jesus directly committed any of his teachings to written form. “Aquinas considered that neither Socrates nor Our Lord committed their teaching to writing because the kind of interplay of minds that is in teaching is not possible by means of writing.” [127]

The presentation of the Gospel will not cease in the illiterate society of the 21st century. Rather than attempting to fight the move to a different basis for communication in society, the Church as the instrument for Gospel presentation must be prepared to use effectively all of the proper means available. We must look for ways to ensure that the Bible in its entirety can be heard in the language of the day and that people are challenged to “think and act on the basis of principle, reason and purpose.” For, “the fact is, that if people cease to think for themselves it becomes very difficult to communicate the Gospel to them.” [128]

Mount Gerizim

The conversational computer will be a blessing to those in the Church who are blind or have poor eyesight. They will be able to speak with the computer and have it perform selected tasks. They will also be able to have the computer read books and news to them. As E-mail and electronic funds transfer, activated by voice, become more common they will be given a greater degree of independence. The conversational computer will also be useful to the handicapped who will be able to instruct the computer by voice rather than having to press keys.

Bible translation will benefit from the conversational computer. Automated Bible translation is not yet a reality, but research being conducted by Wycliffe has taken a major step in that direction. Their technique called Computer-Assisted Dialect Adaptation (CADA) helps translators working in one dialect of a language take advantage of the work already done in a related dialect. This approach has been used in Guatemala to adapt the Central Cakchiquel New Testament into Eastern Cakchiquel. According to the translators the machine can do 80 to 90 percent of the work of translating, allowing the human translators to concentrate on corrections and improving the flow of the translation.

A major benefit is the time that is saved. Wycliffe estimates that there are 1,000 languages in Africa, 500 of which are related in families. In New Guinea and Indonesia similar language groups are found. This approach to translating the Bible “can markedly advance Wycliffe’s ultimate goal of God’s Word in the language of every man.” [129] Automated translation will also be used to make available in other languages the large body of theological works available in English.

Another benefit of the conversational computer will be simultaneous translation. Within the next twenty five years personal-characteristics modules will become available which will allow preachers and teachers to speak in their own language, but be heard in any language which has been programmed into the computer. This will give access to a worldwide audience, and give the world greater access to the Gospel. It will no longer be necessary for a missionary to spend months in language training before he can begin to present Jesus Christ.

“The history of the progress from script to print is a history of the gradual substitution of visual for auditory methods of communicating and receiving ideas.” [130] But the introduction of the conversational computer is going to reverse this trend and reemphasize the importance of the spoken word over the written word. McLuhan and others have indicated this in their writings:

Electricity and electronics have carried us back to the spoken word. [131]

Prose remained oral rather than visual for centuries after printing. Instead of homogeneity there was heterogeneity of tone and attitude ... so language was the last art to accept the visual logic of Gutenberg technology, and the first to rebound in the electronic age. [132]

This will be a blessing for the Church, for much preaching today is powerless. “The problem is universal. There is not a denomination or fellowship of pastors that does not designate powerlessness in the pulpit as its greatest weakness.” [133] There may be many causes, but without doubt one cause is that most preachers “are men of books and not men of people.” [134] Another cause is that most preachers are also men of books and not men of the spoken word. Most preachers are trained via the written word rather than the spoken word. They get relatively little opportunity for training in the skills of public speaking. And the instruction they are given is largely from men skilled academically in their particular disciplines, but not at all skilled in effective oral communication. [135]

Preachers in the early Church, the Middle Ages and the Reformation were trained extensively in oral communication. They studied rhetoric and debate, and were expected to be able to communicate effectively with the spoken word. Today lip service is given to effective communication. Yet presbyteries and licensing boards continue to permit men to occupy pulpits who dull their congregations into numbness. Solid content is useless if everyone is asleep.

The introduction of the conversational computer is going to refocus the attention of our society on the spoken word. Powerless preaching will empty churches. So the Church will have to act against powerless preaching, and of necessity pay more attention to the medium carrying the message.

Powerful pulpit preaching is going to get an assist from the conversational computer in a second way. People are going to become tired of constant interaction with machines. “Preaching is a highly personal activity, perhaps especially in the electronic age when the hunger for love and authentic relationships is slaked but not satisfied by the pseudo-intimacy of television.” [136]

Listening to a live preacher who can effectively communicate the Gospel of hope is going to be a refreshment after the emotionless world of the machine. In his science fiction story Time Considered as a Helix, Samuel Delany speaks of the prophets for their age:

Nobody could explain it. All they could do was proclaim her Singer. Why did the institution of Singers come about, springing up in just about every urban centre throughout the system? Some have speculated that it was a spontaneous reaction to the mass media which blanket our lives. While Tri-D and radio and news-tapes disperse information all over the worlds, they also spread a sense of alienation from first-hand experience. (How many people still go to sports events or a political rally with their little receivers plugged to their ears to let them know that what they see is really happening?) [137]

The prophets for every age are the preachers of the Gospel. No one will be able to explain it, but the electronic age is also going to be an age of effective powerful pulpit preaching.

Copyright © 1997, James R. Hughes. All rights reserved.

Endnotes [Next | Previous | Contents]

[1] Jonathan Allan, et al., From Text to Speech: The MITTalk System (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987). Back

[2] “Word of Mouth,” Datamation, May 1, 1987. Back

[3] “Now Hear This: Bellcore’s Speech Synthesizer Says Something out of Nothing,” Scientific American, July, 1990. Back

[4] Monty Kersell, “Voice Recognition Leaps Ahead,” Info Canada, February, 1993. Back

[5] “Word of Mouth,” op. cit. Back

[6] Ibid. Back

[7] Sally Cahur, “Newslog,” IEEE Spectrum, December, 1993. Back

[8] Algis Rimkus, “One Day, Computers Will Hear Those Remarks: Expert,” Globe and Mail, May 15, 1987. Back

[9] “Conversations with Computers,” IEEE The Institute, February, 1988. Back

[10] P. J. Skerrett, “Talk Typing,” Popular Science, May, 1991. Back

[11] Ben Shneiderman, “Beyond Intelligent Machines: Just Do It,” IEEE Software, March, 1987. Back

[12] Paul Wallich, “Putting Speech Recognizers to Work,” IEEE Spectrum, April, 1987. Back

[13] Arthur Fisher, “Waddee Say???” Popular Science, December, 1986. Back

[14] Robert Davidson, “Spinoffs: Say Where it Hurts,” IEEE Spectrum, January, 1988. Back

[15] Alexander I. Rudnicky, et al., “Survey of Current Speech Technology,” Communications of the ACM, March, 1994. Back

[16] Fisher, op. cit. Back

[17] Richard D. Peacocke and Daryl H. Graf, “An Introduction to Speech and Speaker Recognition,” IEEE Computer, August, 1990. Back

[18] Bill Z. Manaris and Brian M. Slator, “Interactive natural Language Processing: Building on Success,” IEEE Computer, July, 1996. Back

[19] Wendy Pickering, “Computer Take a Memo,” Datamation, January 7, 1994. Back

[20] Sally Cahur, “Newslog,” IEEE Spectrum, April, 1992. Back

[21] John Free, “Electronics Newsfront: Smarter Macs,” Popular Science, May, 1992. Back

[22] Yoichi Takebayashi, “Voice Recognition,” Popular Science, July, 1992. Back

[23] John Gosch, “Voice Recognition: Give and Take — A Machine Talks Back,” Electronics, July, 1990. Back

[24] Christine Miller, “New Products: Voice Input for DOS and Windows,” IEEE Computer, June, 1992. Back

[25] Christine Miller, “New Products: Instant Recognition,” IEEE Computer, March, 1993. Back

[26] William M. Bulkeley, “Speech Recognition Gets Cheaper and Smarter,” Wall Street Journal, June 6, 1994. Back

[27] George Johnson, Machinery of the Mind: Inside the New Science of Artificial Intelligence (New York: Random House, Times Books, 1986), p. 166. Back

[28] James D. Foley, “Interfaces for Advanced Computing,” Scientific American, October, 1987. Back

[29] Skerrett, op. cit. Back

[30] Geoffrey Rowan, “Voice Recognition Turns Computing on its Ear New Technology Promises Major Changes,” Globe and Mail, March 27, 1995. Back

[31] Pickering, op. cit. Back

[32] “New Products: Computer! Let’s Talk!,” Datamation, April 1, 1994. Back

[33] Julie Anderson, “TechView Listen Up, Computer!,” Infosystems, June 3, 1996. Back

[34] Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man (New York: Signet Books, 1964), p. 191. Back

[35] Marvin Cetron and Thomas O’Toole, Encounter with the Future: (A Forecast of Life into the 21st Century) (New York: McGraw Hill, 1982). Back

[36] AT&T Advertisement, Scientific American, May 4, 1987. Back

[37] James Martin, The Wired Society (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1978), p. 104. Back

[38] Hiroshi Inose and John R. Pierce, Information Technology and Civilization (New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1984), p. 129. Back

[39] McLuhan, op. cit., p. 84. Back

[40] Inose and Pierce, op. cit., p. 109. Back

[41] Cetron and O’Toole, op. cit., p. 214. Back

[42] John Browning, “Cyber View The Rosetta hack,” Scientific American, November, 1996. Back

[43] Inose and Pierce, op. cit., p. 132. Back

[44] Ibid. Back

[45] James Etheridge, “Eurotra: Speeding Toward 1992,” Datamation, November 1, 1989. Back

[46] Browning, op. cit. Back

[47] “Japan Shows Progress in Machine Translation,” IEEE The Institute, May/June, 1991. Back

[48] “Newstrack: Tongue Twister,” Communications of the ACM, July, 1992. Back

[49] Hiroaki Kitano, “FDM-Dialog: An Experimental Speech-to-Speech Dialog Translation System,” IEEE Computer, June, 1991. Back

[50] William J. Hawkins, “Instant Spoken Translation,” Popular Science, February, 1993. Back

[51] “Newstrack: Overseas Calls,” Communications of the ACM, April, 1993. Back

[52] Chris O’Malley, “Computers and Software: Future Watch — ¿Habla Esapñol? Si, With My PC,” Popular Science, January, 1994. Back

[53] Inose and Pierce, op. cit., p. 129. Back

[54] “No One’s Perfect,” Infosystems, May, 1987. Back

[55] Paul Wallich, “Software Reviews,” IEEE Spectrum, August, 1987. Back

[56] Mike May, “Electronics Newsfront: Can We Talk,” Popular Science, November, 1991. Back

[57] John Free, “Electronics Newsfront: Computer Translators,” Popular Science, January, 1991. Back

[58] Donald Christiansen, “The New Have-Nots,” IEEE Spectrum, September, 1987. Back

[59] Denise Kalette, “Computers that ‘Hear’ Taking Jobs,” USA Today, March 6, 1992. Back

[60] David Lyon, The Silicon Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), p. 38. Back

[61] Kalette, op. cit. Back

[62] Greg W. Taylor, “Adults Who Can’t Read: The Enormous Cost Affects Us All,” Reader’s Digest, March, 1987. Back

[63] Deborah C. Sawyer, “Notes on a Revolution: Or Why the People Would Rather Eat Cake,” NOW, December, 1981. Back

[64] Who Cares? An advertising pamphlet published by the Metropolitan Toronto School Board, 1987. Back

[65] Ted Byfield, “How Our Schools Are Failing Us,” Reader’s Digest, September, 1987. Back

[66] Andrew Nikiforuk, School’s Out: The Catastrophe in Public Education and What We Can Do About It (Toronto: Macfarlane Walter and Ross, 1993), pp. 36,37. Back

[67] Peter Calamai, “One in Four Canadians Functionally Illiterate National Survey Finds,” Toronto Star, September 12, 1987. Back

[68] Lynne Ainsworth, “Teaching Reading are our Schools Failing the Test,” Toronto Star, April 18, 1992. Back

[69] Terry C. Muck, “Don’t Wait to See the Movie,” Christianity Today, November 3, 1989. Back

[70] “Milk vs. Cream: Acute Discovery From 1928,” Time, November 3, 1980. Back

[71] Ian Reinecke, Electronic Illusions: A Skeptic’s View of Our High-Tech Future (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1982), p. 90. Back

[72] Byfield, op. cit. Back

[73] McLuhan, op. cit., p. x. Back

[74] “Read This Quickly While You Can,” Ottawa Citizen, February 2, 1981. Back

[75] Scientific American reported in 1979 on an article by John R. Bormuth in Visible Language. Bormuth “argues that there is no good evidence that the level of reading and writing skills is lower than it used to be and is declining, and that on the contrary a large and growing proportion of the population have attained a high level of literacy and the volume and economic value of written communication have been increasing.” (“Science and the Citizen: The Literate U.S.,” Scientific American, March, 1979.) Bormuth’s arguments seem to be based on second-hand evidence (such as the increased number of library circulations) rather than on direct evidence, such as surveys. Nevertheless, the number of illiterates in North American society may not have increased as dramatically as the newspaper and magazine headlines claim. Back

[76] Byfield, op. cit. Back

[77] Taylor, op. cit. Back

[78] Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave (Toronto: Bantam, 1980), p. 172. Back

[79] Helen Huguenor Lyman, Literacy and the Nations Libraries (Chicago: American Library Association), 1977, p. 6. Back

[80] Ibid., p. 12. Back

[81] Toffler, op. cit., p. 173. Back

[82] Brian Herbert, Prisoners of Arionn (New York: Arbor House, 1987), p. 36. Back

[83] Stanislaw Lem, Return from the Stars; translated by Barbara Marszal and Frank Simpson (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980), p. 79. Back

[84] Sony advertisement for the Data Discman Electronic Book Player in the Globe and Mail, March 5, 1993. Back

[85] Randy Pausch, “Three Views of Virtual Reality,” IEEE Computer, February, 1990. Back

[86] John A. Adam, “Virtual Reality is for Real,” IEEE Spectrum, October, 1993. Back

[87] Donald Christiansen, “The New Have-Nots,” IEEE Spectrum, September, 1987. Back

[88] Tim Stafford, “Private Lessons,” Christianity Today, November 25, 1991. Back

[89] William T. Iverson, “Of Studies,” WORLD, April 20, 1987. Back

[90] Ibid. Back

[91] Ernest C. Reisinger, “Every Christian a Publisher!,” The Banner of Truth, December, 1987. Back

[92] McLuhan, op. cit., p. 251. Back

[93] Ibid., p. 88. Back

[94] See also: McLuhan, Marshall. The Gutenberg Galaxy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962), p. 125. Back

[95] Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man, op. cit., p. 89. Back

[96] An Interview with Ray Bradbury, Benchmark, Winter, 1991. Back

[97] Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967), p. 48. Back

[98] Ibid., pp. 49-50. Back

[99] Ibid., p. 58. Back

[100] Harry Hansen (ed.), The Stories of O. Henry (New York: Heritage Press, 1965), p. 357. Back

[101] James S. Coleman, “The Children Have Outgrown the Schools,” Psychology Today, February, 1972. Back

[102] George A. Miller and Patricia M. Gildea, “How Children Learn Words,” Scientific American, September, 1987. Back

[103] Bradbury, op. cit., p. 66. Back

[104] Norman Street, “Power of Print,” Gospel Witness, November 19, 1987. Back

[105] Charles Colson, “People of the Book: Literacy and Good Literature have Transformed Cultures,” WORLD, January 30, 1993. Back

[106] Muck, op. cit. Back

[107] Coleman, op. cit. Back

[108] McLuhan, Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man, op. cit., p. 271. Back

[109] Harold B. Kuhn, “McLuhan’s Global Village Is Now a Ghost Town,” Christianity Today, April 2, 1983. Back

[110] McLuhan, Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man, op. cit., pp. 81-82. Back

[111] Philip Yancy, “Sin,” Christianity Today, June 3, 1987. Back

[112] Carolynn Van Dyke, “Taking ‘Computer Literacy’ Literally,” Communications of the ACM, May, 1987. Back

[113] Jean Eldred, “Why a Church Bookstall,” The Banner of Truth, January, 1994. Back

[114] Sir Edmund Leach, “Literacy be Damned,” Vancouver Sun, March 5, 1977. Back

[115] Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash (New York: Bantam, 1992), p. 379. Back

[116] Leach, op. cit. Back

[117] Fergus A.J. Macdonald, “Truth for Today,” The Monthly Record of the Free Church of Scotland, July 8, 1987. Back

[118] Ibid. Back

[119] McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy, op. cit., p. 103. Back

[120] Karen H. Jobes, “Reviews of Books (The Rhetorical Composition and Function of Hebrews 11 in Light of Example Lists in Antiquity),” Westminster Theological Journal, Spring, 1991. Back

[121] Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine; translated by John K. Ryan (New York: Image Books, 1960), p. 136. Back

[122] McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy, op. cit., p. 92. Back

[123] Elizabeth J. Canham, “A School for the Lord’s Service,” Weavings, January/February, 1994. Back

[124] McLuhan, op. cit., p. 84. Back

[125] Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers (New York: Vintage Books, 1985), p. 497. Back

[126] Ibid. Back

[127] McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy, op. cit., p. 23. Back

[128] Macdonald, op. cit. Back

[129] Robert Griffin, “Computer-Aided Bible Translation,” Covenanter Witness, November, 1987. Back

[130] H. J. Chaytor, From Script to Print (Cambridge: Heffer & Sons, 1954), p. 4 (Quoted in: Marshall McLuhan, op.cit., p. 87). Back

[131] Inose and Pierce, op. cit., p. 3. Back

[132] McLuhan, op. cit., p. 136. Back

[133] Geoffrey Thomas, “Powerful Preaching,” The Preacher and Preaching: Reviving the Art in the Twentieth Century, edited by: Samuel T. Logan, Jr., (Phillipsburg New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1986), p. 369. Back

[134] Ibid. Back

[135] Lloyd J. Averill, “The Art of Saying Something,” Christianity Today, October 21, 1988. Back

[136] R. Paul Stevens, The Equipper’s Guide to Every-Member Ministry (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1992), p. 32. Back

[137] Samuel R. Delany, “Time Considered as a Helix,” in: The Complete Nebula Award-Winning Fiction (New York: Bantam Books, 1986), p. 387. Back