*** Surfing Ancient, Homeric Fields "Havelock (using different terminology than I would choose) writes that "oral verse was the instrument of cultural indoctrination, the ultimate purpose of which was the preservation of group identity (p. 100). The Muses, he says, "are not the daughters of inspiration or invention, but basically of memorization. Their central role is not to create but to preserve" (p. 100).
This seems a long way from the Net, where (in Bruce Sterling's words) "computers swallow whatever they touch, and everything they swallow is forced to become as unstable as they are." Noting that there are no formal archives on the Net, and that in five years there will probably be no way to access a current Web page, Sterling goes on:
In the 1990s, we produce computers that are high-tech sarcophagi with the working lifespan of hamsters. The English-language computer industry has the production values, and the promotional values, and even the investment structure of the couture industry. (Sterling: p. 79)
The fact is that computer-mediated communication proves far more corrosive of culture and tradition than preserving of it -- a revolutionary virtue often celebrated on the Net. This directly contradicts the most fundamental principles said to be at work in primary oral cultures."
