Printing was known in China for a long time before Gutenberg appeared. Why wasn't there a social revolution in China as there was in Europe when printing appeared?
Suppose Henry David Thoreau (see page 58) were alive today. What do you think he would say about the Internet?
Many people would argue that, of all the communication media discussed in this chapter, television has had the greatest impact on society. Do you agree?
When the Internet was first developing, the term information superhighway appeared frequently in news stories about it. Now that the Internet has been around for a while, news stories rarely contain that term. Why is this so?
Do you own a PDA or cell phone? If so, how have they changed your life?
Consider the boxed insert "Cell Phones, Religion, and Culture." Can you think of other technological devices that have been subjected to a "culturing" process? How does the "kosher phone" relate to the concept of a community? Who should decide what features of a new technology are introduced to a particular culture?
