A Better Pencil - Part 2

The remaining chapters of the book serve as a history lesson on how we've gotten to where we are today in terms of writing technologies.  The funny thing is, I have been apart of the revolution in technology since around the era of the typewriter.  


I witnessed the advent of the personal computer and saw first-hand how it slowly took over the roll of typewriter.  I say slowly, because for many years, even after the computer was firmly entrenched in offices, there was still a typewriter which was used to type out pre-maid forms.  Early days indeed.


This goes hand in hand with the idea that we're very mistrustful of new technologies as they're invented.  This is analogous to Thoreau dismissing the idea of wired communications and Plato lamenting about how writing couldn't be trusted.  However, in today's era, I see that technology is catching on at a much faster pace.  New communications mediums are being adopted and institutionalized at impressive rates.


A question I'd like to pose to the class is:  In the eve of video communications technology and voice recognition, is writing on it's way out?