I sometimes sit and wonder....

[sedstar]

i often sit and wonder... what DID the first guy to invent reading and writing GO THRU, trying to explain the significance of it? I figure, it was invented over and over, until SOMEone got the idea it was a "good idea"... and it started to catch on slowly.

Humans were talking ORALLY long before writing. We had wars and civilization long before the first writing, we just dont KNOW about it.

i figure it went like this...

"Hey! Look what i have done. i can write down the things i say! To save them Preserve them!"

"Well... sort of neat. How long does it take to learn to do it?"

"it takes YEARS... and you have to start when you are young, or you never really get far with it."

"well... whats the POINT then?"

"you raise pigs? you can count your pigs, and write down how many you have!"

"What the *&^* do i get out of years of learning THAT?I can walk out NOW and count my pigs! I know! I do it from time to time..."

"okay, bad example. Lets say... someone far away, figures out a better way to raise pigs. he can TELL you."

"Sure he can. He rides here, he tells me. Or, i can ride THERE, and he can tell me."

"But see, this way? He just writes it down... and the piece of bark is brought to YOU..."

"You say then, the man writes it down... on a piece of bark? Then another man rides that bark here?"

"Yes!"

"WHy cant he just tell the man riding here, and he tell me? Then, no one has to waste TIME learning anything!"

"Because! One man can only ride and tell ONE MAN what he has learned raising pigs! If its important enough? We send out TEN men, in different directions, and they all know at once the new information on raising pigs!"

"Pigsh!t, that is! Why... THOSE ten men? They might just as well all ride HERE, and i tell them... and show them... same thing!"

"Well... what if i want to PROVE i said something? I write it down... later on, when someone lies and says i did say it like that...i can PROVE i did! Its written down!"

"Okay, okay... you write things down, and AFTER YOU ARE DEAD, people can still see what you learned! As people learn MORE, from reading the things written down? We learn more and more! We'll get BETTER over time!"

"More p!gsh!t.... see here... my FATHER told me how HE raised pigs best... he heard it from HIS father before him. I dont have to waste time learning to write it down. Me? I improved on the FENCE... i will tell MY SON... and he will have it all, and figure out another thing... and it still passes on. ALl you are proposing, is to waste childrens time, when they COULD be feeding the pigs and learning about pigs."

"Well... the KING HIMSELF is interested in this. He summoned for me to show him!"

"And does the king tend to his own pigs?"

"Well no, hes the king... people do it for him."

"Right! THATS why the king has idle time to waste on nonsense like this! If the king tended his OWN pigs, this wouldnt be needed."

"Hm. Your right! Here, forget all this... let me help you carry the p!gsh!t out..."

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and i figure this went on and on, over and over again.... until pretty much by accident, someone saw some value in it.

[Radagast]

The pig farmer rejected it. His wife took one look at it and said 'I can tell my sister about the new recipe for gruel. My son needs something to keep him out of trouble. He can run with the piece of bark to the next village and deliver it.'

The son returned with another piece of bark, on which was a pictogram of a cat. And thus social media was born.

[sedstar]

NOTHING got dont in THOSE days, but for MEN were interested in it, remember. WOmen and children did count back then...

I figure, evetually someone draw a rough picture of naked boobies on teh bark, and sent it around. Thus PORNOGRAPHY was born, and so MEN were suddenly interested in learning to read and write?