Blog 3

Ong's "Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought" focuses on the theory that writing is a form of technology that humans have interiorized. Ong first states the impact writing has in an oral world. Due to the presence of writing, the value of speech has decreased, memory is relied upon less people, and words are no longer articulate, but artificial and unnatural. Ong goes on to say this "artificialness" is not a wholly negative characteristic. Since writing is artificial, it has the ability to separate, divide, and distance (which he recognizes in his fourteen points) and also the capability to unite. This paradoxical trait of writing raises consciousness and creates an intimacy more articulate than the oral world. Ong concludes writing is not as intrusive as Plato makes it seem, but necessary for the benefit of society.