What makes us human? For some, it’s our cognitive ability, for others, it’s our ability to feel empathy, compassion, and other complex emotions. Many experts might also argue that part of what makes humans so special is our innate needs and desires to document, to write, and to create.
From speculative fiction stories in fantasy worlds to grand political and philosophical texts, people have always seemingly felt a need to mark their experiences and share them with others in some form. We can see many examples of this from delving deep into the past. Cave paintings and ancient hieroglyphs show us that people wanted to document things for posterity from the earliest age.
This tradition, which began so many years ago, has persisted throughout time, shaping civilization and society as we know it, strengthening cultural understanding between people, laying down laws and rules by which we live, broadening the minds of scholars and readers across the globe, and so much more.
Indeed, in many ways, the written word has played a more instrumental role in forging human civilization than almost anything else. Take religious texts, such as the Bible or Qu’ran, for instance, which were first formed many years ago but continue to hold great spiritual and religious significance for countless people today.
We can also take a look at powerful legal documents like the Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence. These texts show how the simplest of things – nothing but paper and ink – can be imbued with immense power by those who forge them.
Then, there are the works of fiction, tales told by the likes of Dickens, Austen, Twain, Hemingway, Woolf, Orwell, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and so on that have been enjoyed and admired throughout the ages. They continue to exert great influence over society right into the modern era, performed on the stage, adapted for the screen, and studied in great detail by readers worldwide.
These texts, in all of their forms and guises, have helped to shape and change the world we live in. Without newspapers, vast swathes of the public would have been uninformed of current events throughout their nations. Without dictionaries and literary aids, literacy rates would never have risen as they did.
From a political perspective too, we can see the amazing influence writers can have. The likes of Mary Wollstonecraft helped to lay the groundwork for the feminism of today, while iconic figures of the past like Martin Luther King Jr. made use of their own writing abilities to forge a more equal and understanding society.
Without political writing and musings, key events throughout history like the French Revolution or the American Civil War might never have happened or might have played out entirely differently. Without the works of great philosophers like Plato, Kant, Descartes, and Hume, our very conception of the world around us could be completely different.
From scientific and medical standpoints, written documents allowed researchers from all four corners of the globe to make great strides in their studies and developments, building on the foundations documented by those before them and guiding their descendants towards new discoveries.
There are countless examples of written words helping to transform and indeed form the world in which we live, and it can be argued that not a single key event of the last few millennia would have played out quite the same way without the intervention of documents, texts, books, papers, and journals.
But whether we’re talking about classical romantic poetry, adventure stories for children, legal texts that form the foundation of entire societies, or grand religious documents that inspire the faith of millions, all forms of the written word owe a great deal to one man in particular: Johannes Gutenberg.
In 1439, Gutenberg became the first European to make use of movable type, inventing an entirely new process for mass-printing movable type and pioneering the use of ink in printing books. He formed the printing press, changing the course of history forevermore and allowing people all around the civilized world to have far easier and more widespread access to written words.
Gutenberg’s creation allowed words to proliferate further than ever before, broadening their influence and enhancing their power. It’s no surprise that in the centuries that followed, mankind saw some of its finest inventions, its greatest developments, and its swiftest pushes towards the modern societies we know today.
Still, now, in this digital age of connected devices, social media platforms, and always-online societies, written words continue to hold immense importance for all, and while the printing press of Gutenberg is more of an intriguing artifact than a functional device in the modern era, we’re still seeing societies build and expand on the foundations he laid down.
Written words continue to hold great power, even in the digital space. Short messages and personal stories shared across social media led to the rise of massive global movements like Me Too and Black Lives Matter, while aspiring authors continue to share their tales on a bigger scale than ever before.
At a time when anyone can head online and have their written words read by thousands all over the globe, the importance of those words has never been greater. It’s up to all of us to acknowledge the incredible influence and power we can wield with our words and take heed of the past to use them in the best possible ways.
Leon Collier is a blogger from the UK, who loves to write about everything: pop-culture, history, travel, self-development, education, marketing. He also works as part of a team of professional essay writers, offering dissertation writing services to those who need help. When not writing, you can find him behind a book or playing tabletop games with his friends. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12.
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