I can get enthused by new ideas and new devices. I began graduate school to get a master's degree but I finished with some knowledge and experience with computers. A friend explained that word processing, spreadsheets and databases were indeed wonderful but I should just hold on until I had experienced the internet. I saw his point quickly after we had email and Netscape, an early and superior browser.
When I first heard that the railroad and the telegraph were more astounding to people than YouTube and Facebook, I didn't believe it. Now, I can undestand that, yes, the speed of transportation of both people and goods, and the speed of information achieved by wire were unprecedented and in many cases, literally unbelieveable. Recently, I found Tom Wheeler, formerly chair of the Federal Communications Committee, and his book "Mr. Lincoln's T-mails" and learned of the frequent reluctance people felt about trying to send messages by telegraph. It was said to be communication by lightening and some new-fangled force called "electricity."
When I watched the 2003 movie "Luther", I thought I was going to see a story I already knew. Luther challenged the idea that paying extra to the church could assist a deceased loved one advance from purgatory into heaven. But here and there, I gathered insight into the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation and centuries of bloodshed, confusion and warfare.
The other Tom Wheeler book "From Gutenburg to Google" got my attention even more. After all, I use Google every day. I save my post in Google Drive, send copies in G-mail, post my blog in Google Blogger and publish things on my Google Sites website. Wheeler pointed me to Johannes Gutenburg and the printing press. I know the book "Divine Art, Infernal Machine" a little bit and have some references to it in this blog.
https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/search?q=divine+art
But I didn't get the connection between the phenomenon of printing and Luther and intellectual open thinking and science and today.
Yesterday, I attended a board meeting for LIFE, a learning in retirement organization at UWSP. We started with a quickly made agenda and not much of a mission but the conversations moved across many subjects and areas. Wisconsin and its Wisconsin idea that the borders of the campus are the borders of the state, is the home of continuing education and county agents and university extension. That little room showed what communication and language and the tug and tussle of ideas and purposes can accomplish, given the contributions of many thinkers, traditions, and inventors over the centuries.
