Are book readers more advanced humans?
And endangered ones
It’s interesting how books have played a crucial role in neurological evolution.
As far as the popular history goes, classical greeks founded modern knowledge. Past that, for almost one and a half millenniem, masses didn’t read anything. Elites got to read and write due to royal support, while commoners remained outside the sphere of inquiry and independent thought.
Knowledge passed from mouth to ears, and via apprentice-master relationships.
This remained unchanged even well past Gutenberg’s printing press, who contributed to heaviest circulation of Bible. Normal people reading books for curiosity is a phenomena of the last two centuries.
On the evolutionary timescale, reading is a very new activity, compared to other psychological faculties such as speaking and listening - the primary means to spread knowledge before the printing press arrived.
In 2009, Carnegie Mellon University scientists Timothy Keller and Marcel uncovered the first evidence that intensive instruction to improve reading skills in young children causes the brain to physically rewire itself, creating new white matter that improves communication within the brain.
This directly means those who read more and diverse content are more intelligent.
The neurological reason behind this is that reading requires a combination of two distinct brain functions: Creation of visual imagery of what words represent, and creation of meaning after comprehension.
Reading ends up activating special circuitry in brain. Frequent readers are not only better in understanding the world, but also better at making an impact on their immediate social circles and the world at large.
Reading is rare. Its rarity multiplied after the heavy penetration of smart devices that propagated binge reading and infinite scrolling. Even more - as audiobooks begun to grow. Listening to audio to acquire knowledge feels natural; it’s been tried and tested way to spread knowledge since centuries. It optimizes time and immediate grasp of the subject, too. But other mediums fails to activate brain neurology responsible for creating the visual imagery which is available to readers of the deep content.
A voracious reader also has a distinct advantage over a podcast listener: He has access to going back and forth in the text - which provides better comprehension and deeper insights.
Medium vs Message:
Knowledge is a message. In today’s society, it is a highly monetizable asset. Society is able to put a tangible value to it - whether or not that value is justified is debatable.
Reading (hence, the readable literature) is a medium that helps spread it. In it being a medium, it takes a step down. If something is a medium, it can be discarded with a better medium. Reading has its alternative in audio and video. Few realize its distinct cognitive advantages over other mediums.
Today’s Gen AI is a diluted form of all the knowledge today’s techies think worth advancing. The most popular chatbots are born out of the best of those sources. For the written/printed word, its child (AI) could prove to be a death knell.
Isn’t it ironic? We only had access to the most profound sources of knowledge in the form of books during this shorter span of past-renaissance + Industrial Revolution. Now AI, its child, is set to replace it.
This isn’t fear-mongering. Global book sales are declining. And it’s not a good sign.
With widespread adoption of AI, it will only get worse. Its high availability and great accessibility is destined to dumb down the masses. No matter how AI industry sugarcoats its utility in education, the ability to leverage it only lies with those who are good questioners - who form a very tiny subset of great readers.
Yes, book readers are a species to be rescued. They are more advanced humans. Before they become endangered, we must save them.