Technology is changing how we write - and how we think about writing

"The world's oldest writing system still in use, that of Chinese characters, dates from about 1200 bc. It has survived almost as long as its even older predecessors. For instance, cuneiform - comprising wedge-shaped marks inscribed in clay tablets with a stylus - was used in ancient Mesopotamia until the first century ad and Egyptian hieroglyphs remained in use until the fourth century ad. Moreover, Chinese characters were central to the development of writing systems in several other cultures, notably those of Japan and Korea."

"Yet today, millions of people who speak and read Chinese have forgotten how to compose many of the traditional characters by hand, relying instead on simpler phonetic and digital equivalents. This controversial trend in China, generally known as character amnesia, opens Tools of the Scribe, a stimulating and original, if technical, book by computational linguists Brian Roark, Richard Sproat and Su-Youn Yoon."

"The book explores how "the implement, the medium, the writing system and the writer" interact to produce text. The authors analyse the linguistic structure of writing systems ranging from ancient cuneiform to modern alphabets; the technologies that have shaped writing in both the past and the present; and the processes underlying computer-based 'scribes', including large language models. Although their main focus is on technology, the authors draw on research in many fields, including psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, ergonomics, anthropology and speech and language pathology."

Implement, medium, writing system and writer interact to produce text, with each component affecting how writing is created and used. Chinese characters date from about 1200 BC and influenced writing systems in Japan and Korea, while cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs persisted for millennia. Many modern Chinese readers now rely on phonetic and digital input methods, producing widespread inability to handwrite traditional characters, a phenomenon called character amnesia. Technological developments, from inscription implements to computer-based 'scribes' and large language models, have reshaped composition processes. Analyses draw on linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, ergonomics, anthropology and speech and language pathology to explain cognitive and practical impacts.

Read at Nature