Novels as a kind of literary seismograph
June 26, 2021 2:17 PM Subscribe
"Clashes of arms, he wrote, were usually preceded by wars of – and sometimes on – words, and therefore words could also be used to prevent them." From 2018 to 2020 the German government worked with a group of literacy scholars to anticipate geopolitical futures.
NB: we're not talking about this Project Cassandra. Nor this one.
NB: we're not talking about this Project Cassandra. Nor this one.
** Puts on old persons voice **
Everything old is new again
posted by JoeXIII007 at 8:50 PM on June 26, 2021
Everything old is new again
posted by JoeXIII007 at 8:50 PM on June 26, 2021
Apparently the future is most likely a repressive post-apocalyptic male dictatorship, probably one that forces young people to fight to the death for food as a public entertainment. Our recommendation is that it would probably be prudent to start discreetly moving that way to get ahead of the game.
posted by Phanx at 9:42 PM on June 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Phanx at 9:42 PM on June 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
ahaha I was just about to make an fpp for this! It's a great article about figuring out the weight to use for measuring a book's impact. They had the interesting aside about stats of interracial marriages declining as well. Reminded me of Asimov's psychohistory.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:52 PM on June 26, 2021
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:52 PM on June 26, 2021
"Literary scholars, not Literacy scholars"
(looks at keyboard)
That's a weird typo.
posted by doctornemo at 8:25 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
(looks at keyboard)
That's a weird typo.
posted by doctornemo at 8:25 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
Heh, probably just a subconscious slip.
Also, in case my previous post seemed snarky, thanks for the great article! I just think the layers of meta-recursiveness around this idea are pretty hilarious.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:11 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also, in case my previous post seemed snarky, thanks for the great article! I just think the layers of meta-recursiveness around this idea are pretty hilarious.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:11 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
That's a weird typo.
I almost never make adjacent key typos anymore, I am vastly more likely to just slip and type an entirely different word, correctly spelled. It makes me somewhat suspicious of both my hands and brain, like they're conspiring behind my back.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:30 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
I almost never make adjacent key typos anymore, I am vastly more likely to just slip and type an entirely different word, correctly spelled. It makes me somewhat suspicious of both my hands and brain, like they're conspiring behind my back.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:30 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
I shifted to working across three computers now, each with a very different keyboard. So my fingers get confused easily, unless I stay with one for at least an hour.
posted by doctornemo at 11:40 AM on June 27, 2021
posted by doctornemo at 11:40 AM on June 27, 2021
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(minor note: Literary scholars, not Literacy scholars)
posted by Saxon Kane at 6:02 PM on June 26, 2021