Post+Literate+Society

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= Postliterate society =

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A **postliterate society** is a hypothetical society wherein [|multimedia] technology has advanced to the point where [|literacy], the ability to

read written words, is no longer necessary. Many advanced science-fiction societies are postliterate, for example in [|Dan Simmons]' 2003

novel //[|Ilium]//.

Postliterate is markedly different from preliterate. A preliterate society has not yet discovered how to read and write; a postliterate society has

replaced the written word with an electronic oral culture, or some other means of communication. All information is either transmitted via sound

or some other, more complex means. Postliteracy is sometimes considered a sign that a society is approaching the [|technological singularity].

In a postliterate society people can read words, but choose not to. They generally receive information in a visual form instead of a verbal form.