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Kieran Telo's avatar

A very thought provoking read, thank you.

Paradoxical as it may seem, I have a very high regard for the faithfulness of oral transmission. The Theravadans have used chanting to memorize Gautama's teachings (c.2560 years ago). The Pali canon was transcribed c2125 y.a.

The change in mindset/culture that accompanied the spread of language was replicated when the printed word broke out of monastic bounds; covered very well by Neil Postman. An extended apprenticeship became a form of elite cultural norm and though schooling is now practically universal in the West... it is some way behind the digital/technocratic Risorgimento and increasingly irrelevant.

Thank you for touching upon the less 'pejorative' dimensions of ideology, viz the social cement that shared norms and values provide us with. It's a blade that cuts both ways I guess.

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