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Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror: Jaspers’ Axial Age and Logan’s Alphabet Effect
“A major theme of Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror is that the internet has pushed us to ‘digital orality,’ that is to say, to the forms of communication prevalent before the invention of writing. This brings in a long train of consequences, not least concerning the nature of truth.” – Martin Gurri, author of “The Revolt of the Public”
“Andrey Mir’s Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror describes the rise and fall of literate culture. Mir has sold me on the idea that what I think of as rational, scientific thinking comes from the way that our minds are shaped by reading. But as the written word gives way to electronic media, we are going to retreat from logic, objectivity, and the pursuit of truth.” – Arnold Kling, economist, author of “The Three Languages of Politics”
“An essential guide for understanding, getting on top of, and even improving the increasingly chaotic and dangerous world we all inhabit. Deeply researched, astutely reasoned, stylishly written, Mir’s latest book will become a classic in the study of media and their unpredictable effects.” – Paul Levinson, author of “Digital McLuhan”
***
This book explains digital tribalization.
Digital media have reversed print literacy and retrieved orality in a new form – in the form of digital orality.
Digital orality tests our tolerance by bringing other people much closer and even more intrusively than oral communication did – right onto our most intimate space, our screens.
Digital orality rewinds the historical Axial Age. According to Karl Jaspers (1949), the Axial Age (the 8th–3rd centuries BCE), was a period of human “awakening.” Humans became aware of their own existence, giving rise to historical consciousness. Fundamental philosophical and religious doctrines emerged in several ancient cultures.
At the time, there were no optics available to Jaspers to explain those pivotal changes. Meanwhile, in terms of media ecology, the Axial Age paralleled the spread of literacy. Writing allowed the “separation of the knower from the known” (Havelock) and the “inward turn” (Ong). Additionally, the “alphabet effect” (Logan) contributed to the emergence of monotheism, codified law, individualism, deductive logic, and abstract science. All these developments, enabled by literacy, occurred during Jaspers’ Axial Age.
2.5 millennia ago, the transition from orality to literacy marked the shift from myth to logos, from magic to faith, from polytheism to monotheism, from customs to laws, from moral relativism to moral absolute, from practical and negotiated truths to objective and absolute truth, from environmental and collective immersion to abstract thinking and individual detachment, from the “circle of life” to personal destiny, from the agitation of tribal belonging to the individual tragedy of (not-)becoming.
Now, by reversing literacy and retrieving orality, digital media are replaying these processes backward. Media evolution thrusts us into a struggle between print literacy and digital orality.
Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror by Andrey Mir explores the digital future as the historical reversal of literacy through the lens of media determinism. The effects of orality and literacy are catalogued to observe which of them are reversed and retrieved in digital society. As soon as you accept this optic and see these effects, your life will become a captivating ethnographic expedition.
“Andrey Mir’s Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror describes the rise and fall of literate culture. Mir has sold me on the idea that what I think of as rational, scientific thinking comes from the way that our minds are shaped by reading. But as the written word gives way to electronic media, we are going to retreat from logic, objectivity, and the pursuit of truth.” – Arnold Kling, economist, author of “The Three Languages of Politics”
“An essential guide for understanding, getting on top of, and even improving the increasingly chaotic and dangerous world we all inhabit. Deeply researched, astutely reasoned, stylishly written, Mir’s latest book will become a classic in the study of media and their unpredictable effects.” – Paul Levinson, author of “Digital McLuhan”
***
This book explains digital tribalization.
Digital media have reversed print literacy and retrieved orality in a new form – in the form of digital orality.
Digital orality tests our tolerance by bringing other people much closer and even more intrusively than oral communication did – right onto our most intimate space, our screens.
Digital orality rewinds the historical Axial Age. According to Karl Jaspers (1949), the Axial Age (the 8th–3rd centuries BCE), was a period of human “awakening.” Humans became aware of their own existence, giving rise to historical consciousness. Fundamental philosophical and religious doctrines emerged in several ancient cultures.
At the time, there were no optics available to Jaspers to explain those pivotal changes. Meanwhile, in terms of media ecology, the Axial Age paralleled the spread of literacy. Writing allowed the “separation of the knower from the known” (Havelock) and the “inward turn” (Ong). Additionally, the “alphabet effect” (Logan) contributed to the emergence of monotheism, codified law, individualism, deductive logic, and abstract science. All these developments, enabled by literacy, occurred during Jaspers’ Axial Age.
2.5 millennia ago, the transition from orality to literacy marked the shift from myth to logos, from magic to faith, from polytheism to monotheism, from customs to laws, from moral relativism to moral absolute, from practical and negotiated truths to objective and absolute truth, from environmental and collective immersion to abstract thinking and individual detachment, from the “circle of life” to personal destiny, from the agitation of tribal belonging to the individual tragedy of (not-)becoming.
Now, by reversing literacy and retrieving orality, digital media are replaying these processes backward. Media evolution thrusts us into a struggle between print literacy and digital orality.
Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror by Andrey Mir explores the digital future as the historical reversal of literacy through the lens of media determinism. The effects of orality and literacy are catalogued to observe which of them are reversed and retrieved in digital society. As soon as you accept this optic and see these effects, your life will become a captivating ethnographic expedition.
- GenresTechnologySociology
332 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 27, 2023
18 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 24, 2023
This extraordinary book deserves to be presented in a locked box, accompanied by a forewarning: ‘Are you truly prepared to delve into this?’
It’s a marvel that will undoubtedly blow your mind, overflowing with profound insights and perspectives that are nothing short of overwhelming. As someone who habitually highlights striking passages, I found myself turning these pages into a vibrant rainbow, with every color marker in my possession.
Each line resonates with depth and wisdom, making it not just a read, but a profound experience.
This isn’t just a book; it’s a treasure trove of enlightenment that demands to be unlocked and savored.
100 of 10!
It’s a marvel that will undoubtedly blow your mind, overflowing with profound insights and perspectives that are nothing short of overwhelming. As someone who habitually highlights striking passages, I found myself turning these pages into a vibrant rainbow, with every color marker in my possession.
Each line resonates with depth and wisdom, making it not just a read, but a profound experience.
This isn’t just a book; it’s a treasure trove of enlightenment that demands to be unlocked and savored.
100 of 10!
May 6, 2024
An essential guide for understanding, getting on top of, and even improving the increasingly chaotic and dangerous world we all inhabit. Deeply researched, astutely reasoned, stylishly written, Mir's latest book will become a classic in the study of media and their unpredictable effects.
September 3, 2025
Some really interesting ideas in this book that have helped me understand the communication shift we’ve experienced with the shift to digital media - how the form works psychologically (explaining both Trump and Mamdani) as well as the collapse of literacy. I am compelled too by the arguments (many derived from earlier scholars) about l written language enabling abstract thought. It has given me a lot to think about. He loses the plot about 3/4 of the way through and fails to stick the landing; his believe in AGI and singularity are a far stretch compared to his better thinking. But his ideas are definitely worth engaging with.
March 2, 2025
This is an interesting hypothesis generating book, which is most interesting when carrying forward the observations of Havelock and Ong to the digital age. The author is too prone to sweeping and unfounded generalizations, however, and has a nagging tendency to take at face value the claims of Elon Musk.
November 19, 2025
Intelligent synthesis of Ong, Havelock, etc. Took some big swings in the end. Felt he too quickly dismissed materialism & the criticism of McLuhan’s work as ideology.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews