Explain How Alphabetic Writing Has Changed The Face Of Knowledge Gathering

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The invention of alphabetic writing has changed the face of human knowledge gathering in many ways. Prehistoric people knew a lot about surviving in their environment, but when it came to their theoretical knowledge that was a completely different story. Although they managed to do things such as make tools, start fires, and hunt, among other things, their knowledge on the world, nature, laws and principles is something that we don't have much evidence on. This is because prehistoric cultures are known to be oral cultures, cultures that relied on material and tradition to be transmitted orally from one generation to another. Since they didn't have the method of writing as an option to them because it didn't exist then, their only form of communication was the spoken word. This meant that the only way for them to exchange beliefs and ideas from one another was to do it face to face. This was used in order to pass on information, experiences, attitudes and values of the …show more content…
Since their knowledge was very different from ours now, the principles that were accepted then are different from the ones that are accepted now. Their framework of basis was of their own experiences and projecting humans or biological traits onto objects. Their oral traditions consisted of describing the universe consisting of sky, earth and underworld and some of the things that were believed in the oral tradition were ghosts of the dead, spirits, invisible powers and reincarnation. Concepts like time and space weren't thought of like they are now. Today, we look at those as being abstract and mathematical, unlike their views being drawn from the community's experiences. The fault with this tradition is that they depended on what they memorized only. There was no way of knowing if throughout generations information was changed (added or