Dominic Wyse

How on earth are humans in their tens of thousands going to organise themselves when writing is one of the key tools?

that we had to get stuff done.

Those institutions are going to look very different.

Writing and bureaucracy were born together around about 6,000 years ago.

So we have a big problem with the basics of organising human societies.

Let's take our health.

It's sounding like we're going to be rather more unwell.

Without medical records, we've got problems with maintaining care systems.

Another big area is finance and banking.

And without writing, we've not got contracts.

We've not got case law, which takes me directly into the courts.

One week in, how are we coping?

We're not doing very well.

I have lists of reminders from the most basic things to the more complicated things I have to remember.

Now we need to rekindle the memory of stories and events.

We need to find ways to tie those together again in our minds.

I think we're going to revisit things like the Iliad, the Odyssey, with such long chains of narratives, long chains of scenes.

In terms of the digital devices, they are...

full of music, pictures, colours, designs, which all communicate meaning.

I dare say we're going to get even better at using these in ways to communicate meaning.