The Impact of Literacy on Individuals and Society - Deepstash
The Impact of Literacy on Individuals and Society

The Impact of Literacy on Individuals and Society

The ability to read and write not only leads to cultural progress but also changes our biology and psychology. Literate societies have thicker corpus callosa and have difficulty recognizing faces. This is because reading (a skill acquired later in human history) requires using areas of the brain that oral communication does not.

The spread of literacy can be traced back to the rise of Protestantism, which emphasized the importance of individuals engaging with divine words directly. Hence, reading became essential in Western societies, while oral communication ruled the rest of the world.

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vladimir

Life-long learner. Passionate about leadership, entrepreneurship, philosophy, Buddhism & SF. Founder @deepstash.

WEIRD means Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. An acronym to describe the characteristics of modern civilisations.

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