Hand-set printing with movable type permits readers widely separated in time and space to encounter the essentially same text -- and hence creates a new kind of virtual community of readers and many other things basic to modern culture.
Printing exemplifies asynchronous, silent communication.
High-speed printing, invented in the nineteenth century, truly democratizes asynchronous, silent communication, producing many of our conceptions of self, intellectual property, and education.
Last modified 1 February 2005