Walter J. Ong

Walter J. Ong was a scholar who studied how humans communicate and how writing and technology influence our thought processes and culture. He distinguished between oral cultures, which rely on spoken words, and literate or print cultures, shaped by writing and printing. Ong explored how these different modes of communication affect memory, learning, and social organization. His work helps us understand the development of human consciousness and the transformation of society through communication technologies, emphasizing the profound impact that shifts from oral to written and electronic media have on human experience.