I was going to write about letters, writing them, receiving them, why I love them. I soon realized that the topic would be too vast; including as it does my love of paper, and of fine writing implements, and of the written word. So, a love story in installments. First, the written word.
I am writing this, before I type it, in Starbucks, in cursive, with a rollerball on a ripped piece of ruled paper. I love the layers that writing has. It is scrawls on paper, curls and lines of varying grace. It is also symbols, the twin-peaked hill of a written ‘r’ somehow equivalent to the drooping plant ‘r’ you now see on your screen - they are arbitrary shapes with common name and function. Their names encode sound, their groups encode meaning. But also, the shapes themselves can hold meaning - a lack of care in the sweeping hurried lines I am writing; anger in a deep-indented note; hesitation in a spreading spot of ink-blot.
This is magic! That I can make these motions, and, without pictures, without speech or significant looks, even anonymous, they can be understood. This is our great accomplishment, and our hope for immortality. When we’ve worn out our world’s welcome and faded away, what inhuman eyes may learn our curves and flourishes, and unlock our long-dead meanings?
Comments
Symbols, Meaning, Magic
To see a symbol and know that it has meaning is a revelation. To see a symbol and know its meaning is the root of all knowledge. To apply rules to symbols and by the application produce novel meaning is magic.
I am a Computer Scientist. At the very center of CS is an idea about the power of symbols. Through nothing more than an act of will, one can define a symbol to represent a thing. One can also describe rules that govern the interaction between these symbols. Furthermore, one can (if one is careful) define these rules in such a way that the results of these interactions has meaning in the real world.
Thus, all that is can be reduced to symbols and a set of rules that operate on those symbols. The rules can be carried out by mechanism, an the results expressed in terms of these same symbols.
At the core of all CS is a quest to define the symbols for a problem, and discover the rules that govern them. Once this is done, all that remains is a simple matter of computation.
Of course, computation alone produces only more symbols. But one has only to recall the meanings previously ascribed to these symbols to understand the result. This understanding is a new thing; a thing that did not exist before.
By ascribing meaning to symbols, performing a ritual and interpreting the result, the world changes. This is magic at its purest.
And they were worried about what?
I recently read an article expressing concern that the art of handwriting is on its way out the door, suggesting that this form of expression is in danger of being lost due to the increasing use and popularity of typing.
I disagree. Calligraphy, while not necessarily practical today, is still practiced. Handwriting may go down the same path, but that doesn’t have to mean that it will be completely lost. I have a feeling it’ll be years and years before they even consider dropping handwriting en masse from school curriculums.
Re: And they were worried about what?
I can’t imagine handwriting ever being eliminated completely, for the same reason that I can’t imagine paper books ever being replaced by digital media. There’s just no reason for it to happen yet. Until our brains are all-digital all the time, we’ll always need a fallback for when the power goes out or the cat pees on the keyboard.
Re: And they were worried about what?
Not to mention that handwriting short notes is, for me, faster than, for instance, graffiti-ing them into a Palm.
Also, I think one of handwriting’s many advantages is the fact that you can put it anywhere - margins, et c. - with an ease not yet possible in most digital media. Add circling, starring, and crude diagrams and you have a very versatile communication form.
With lots of pretty colors of pens! But that is a topic for a future gush.