After outlining what was essentially a thumbnail sketch of the development of oral and written communication, Heim went on to a discussion of some the implications of the wordprocessing revolution. Some of the outcomes may not be all positive. At the very least we need to understand some of the effects that the information revolution will have on the way we think and the way we live. We need to realize that if this revolution develops in what now seems to be a logical and inevitable evolution, the face of society as we know it will be substantially transformed. Vidal's concerns flow directly to the heart of the matter.
Technology has a homogenizing effect on society.
It has the tendency to create greater and greater uniformity. Heim suggests that we already see the erosion of the individual in the educational system. Rilke once said that the memorization of a poem was an anchor in the ocean of all language. Memorization and recitation was an exercise in a kind of discipline through which the self came to have a greater understanding of its place. Ideas of cultural and personal individuality become increasingly diminished.