Marguerite Duras - Tech Visionary

If you understand French and have a deep sadistic desire to think to yourself, "oh shit, we're screwed," then definitely watch this short and chilling video.

If you don't understand or read French, I'll boil it down for you. Marguerite Duras, extremely well known French author of The Lover, etc., basically says (in 1985) that in the future, humans will be "drowned" in information: about our bodies, our health, about everything we do in life and that it "will not be far from a nightmare scenario."

Then she pauses for a long moment after she pronounces that there won't be anyone left reading - we'll see everything through the television. She may sound a little melodramatic, but in my eyes, she is really very close to the mark. We ARE absolutely drowning in information and have been for a while now. It is wonderful to have information, any information we could possibly desire at our fingertips, but we can no longer distinguish between fact, fiction, opinion, etc... And there are those who like it that way. We are afraid of things that don't exist, we believe what we see on the interwebs and no longer know how or care to find out the truth.

It happens that I am a French literature specialist - 18th century novels are my thing. I'm not a Durassienne, far from it. The 20th century was way too real and close for my comfort. But I do love words and language and nuance and complexity. And I value reading. While it is not true that NO ONE reads anymore, I think that in many ways, the quality of our reading has diminished. There is so much to read all the time that we don't/can't pay attention to it all, we don't read fully, and we miss crucial details as we go about our busy lives, just trying to survive. I am guilty of it too. It's a question of time and attention span and overload of input.

Duras foresees screens everywhere, even in the toilet - and she's not wrong! Who hasn't taken their smartphone to the bathroom???

But she ends on a note of hope and rebirth, that one day someone will pick up a book again and read and "everything will begin again." (I adore the new beginning of a new book, or an old one, or one I've read many times.)

Duras did not foretell eBooks, magazines, blogs, or newspapers available online, at least one pro for our beloved screens. And here I am, writing about her on Steemit. What a brave new world...I wonder what she would say if she were here today...