Should I complain?

I admit to being partial toward libraries and librarians. I have no doubt that they're among the important cultural heroes of the information age, and the ages that led up to it. But perhaps their function was like that of monks in pre-literate times, preserving books and knowledge until conditions were ripe for them to flower, and then no longer really being necessary. The newspaper reader of a century ago who read the newspaper to the cigar rollers in Cuba performed an important task, but even if today's cigar rollers wouldn't know how to read, they could listen to the news on iPods - the readers aren't needed anymore.

But of course it's not only a question of new technologies making once-respected professions no longer necessary. A good part of my livelihood stems from teaching information-related tools to people. If there won't be anything to teach, I'll be out of work.



Go to: Too simple to teach.