James Marriott

thank you very much for reading!

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

Finally read this superb piece by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

thank you for reading!

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

Amazing essay by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

Convincingly weaving the connection between literacy, reading, innovation, creativity and public engagement in democracy. And by corollary - the decline of literacy / reading a harbinger of democracy’s fall. Read it.

substack.com/home/post/p-...

quote is h/t james marriott
jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...

Elizabeth Eisenstein was a woman!

Thank you very much for reading - glad to know you enjoyed!

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

This is fantastic by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social Articulates so well our (intentional?) societal regression

Thanks very much for reading!

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

A hugely important article by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social on how an astonishing decline in reading books, brought about by the smartphone, is fuelling authoritarianism and threatens the greatest setback for civilisation since the fall of the Roman Empire.

jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...

An absolutely fascinating conversation about "how to read a painting" with the brilliant Bendor Grosvenor

The great James Marriott and I discussed how to look at pictures, and had a go at deciphering Holbein’s Ambassadors.
jmarriott.substack.com/p/how-to-rea...

The big tech companies are reversing the intellectual and political gains of the Enlightenment and returning us to a New Dark Ages of ignorance, rage and superstition - it's the most important story of our time
jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...

The big tech companies are reversing the intellectual and political gains of the Enlightenment and returning us to a New Dark Ages of ignorance, rage and superstition - it's the most important story of our time
jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...

your TikTok piece is great

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

My magnum opus - a unified field theory of why the post-literate society spells disaster for civilisation as we know it

jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

In the eighteenth century the rise of literacy precipitated the greatest transfer of knowledge into the hands of ordinary men and women in history and helped to destroy the old feudal order in Europe.

As literacy recedes a neo-feudal future looms.

substack.com/home/post/p-...

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

My magnum opus - a unified field theory of why the post-literate society spells disaster for civilisation as we know it

jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...

The dawn of the post-literate society And the end of civilisation

Great @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social piece that neatly counters the usual push back that, as this echoes past changes in communication things will be fine. Print *did* change society and how we think - so did TV, I think, fwiw - so just waving concerns away re smartphones + social media is foolish.

This age of extreme nihilism threatens us all Charlie Kirk gunman appears to have roots in foetid online communities where users can’t cope with their atomised lives

Good piece by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social on the violent nihilists of America

www.thetimes.com/article/2d27...

Is there nowhere to hide from politics now? Polarised campaigns in public life extend from zebra crossings to dog food and they’re fuelling dangerous radicalism

I wrote this about the most boring and destructive trend of our time: the politicisation of everything.

We are becoming incapable of seeing anything - art, TV, adverts, brands, food - through anything other than a political lens. There is more to life!

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

thank you!

Is there nowhere to hide from politics now? Polarised campaigns in public life extend from zebra crossings to dog food and they’re fuelling dangerous radicalism

This is very good by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social

Et si vous embrassiez enfin le pouvoir de la pensée négative ?

💊 Optimisme permanent rime souvent avec engourdissement, estime le chroniqueur James Marriott du “Times”, de Londres.

Stop hunting for that mythical happy era Modern obsession with caveman diets or natural neolithic lifestyles is futile: there has never been a simple, carefree past

I suspect attraction derives from comforting thought that we can get back to a happy & uncorrupted mode of human existence, if we only eat properly and tune into ancient wisdom. Of course, that uncorrupted life never existed
(£) www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
@j-amesmarriott.bsky.social is right

cannot recommend cultural capital enough as a newsletter

A YouTube Education In art, science, philosophy, music and more

I often write disparagingly about the internet’s slide towards video but YouTube has also educated me in poetry, philosophy music and art

Here is a YouTube education - a list of videos which form a kind of curriculum in the humanities and the sciences

jmarriott.substack.com/p/a-youtube-...

A YouTube Education In art, science, philosophy, music and more

I often write disparagingly about the internet’s slide towards video but YouTube has also educated me in poetry, philosophy music and art

Here is a YouTube education - a list of videos which form a kind of curriculum in the humanities and the sciences

jmarriott.substack.com/p/a-youtube-...

Bleak Bonnie Blue exposes our morality gap The West’s 21st-century secularism means it’s easy to condemn the porn star’s antics but much harder to explain why

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Excellent commentary by #JamesMarriott. #Internet thralls confuse #liberty with #license, meanwhile egging #capitalism on to new lows. Coincidence that #BonnieBlue's grooming conforms to beauty tropes of #snatch-jawlined #influencers?
@j-amesmarriott.bsky.social