A case study in digital writing
A couple of interesting takeaways from this post on Heidegger, his writing methods and their relationship to modern, digital technology.
- Heidegger handwrote all his manuscripts, which amount to 100 published volumes with 30 more volumes of his correspondence. What am I doing with my life?
- Heidegger's instructions for publishing his works forbade any indexes so that readers would have to follow his train of thought and read everything in context. I understand and empathize with sentiment (especially given how much information is decontextualized these days), but the computer scientist in me who loves carefully organizing information for rapid reference and recall is horrified.
- Kurrentschrift tickles my little linguistic nerd brain. Though, I will admit that even as somehow who writes and enjoys writing cursive, it seems like a bit of pain to read.
- One of Heidegger's early ideas was that to be meant to be present , something that's particularly hard to do in an age of continuous digital distraction and "engagement".