— How do you think the process of reading is being transformed in the digital age and the psychological mechanisms associated with it? — At the dawn of human civilization, external memory was invented (what English—speaking experts call external memory) – this is the most important event in the history of mankind, which in practice means information going beyond the biological substrate. That is, information has become potentially immortal. It is for this purpose (to preserve information so that it outlives the author and passes on to descendants) that throughout its history mankind has come up with tricks to put memory in some other place, more reliable than the human brain. Therefore, writing is an invaluable thing, and we must all remember that everything we have achieved, this entire civilization and technology, exists thanks to writing and texts. Now we find ourselves in a completely different situation, and a lot of new things are happening. Pictures are beginning to replace texts in public space — more and more. The information has moved to another field, and everything is being transferred to electronic media. But it’s not about the carrier — it’s not that important in principle. What’s the difference: reading a regular book or an electronic one? It’s important that we start using a different way of reading. This is a non-linear reading, these are hypertexts that refer to other texts. Of course, hypertexts appeared before the invention of the computer and the Internet. But the electronic organization of this environment is itself hypertext in essence. — What exactly is changing in terms of mental processes? — We are increasingly relying on external storage media. That is, I don’t need to remember this or that information, it’s easier to reach into my pocket and look on the Internet. All this is related to what is now called distributed consciousness. The term is used in two contexts. In the first case, it means that we always do some things together, together with other people. The second context is more interesting — consciousness and all mental procedures are distributed between me as a person and various devices to which I transfer some of my cognitive functions. This raises an interesting question: where, exactly, do I end up as a person? It turns out that there are a lot of participants involved in my mental processes. Reading is associated with a number of processes — psychological or, better, cognitive, with the organization of attention and memory. So memory has become organized differently, including in the human brain. As I said, we look for information not from within ourselves, but from the outside. Instead of searching my brain and trying to remember the information itself, I try to remember the address where it is located. And if, for example, there is no computer nearby, we try to virtually remember this computer, where it is in the computer, in which folder it lies. That is, it is a fundamentally different thing. — What else can this new reading mechanics lead to? What will happen to the books in general? — Umberto Eco, who gave a lecture in St. Petersburg a few years ago (it was not yet such a computer-developed time), said that we started reading a scroll instead of a book. We don’t read page after page, but rather endlessly expand one text. Again, it may be objected to me that now there are programs (“readers”) that simulate turning pages, but I repeat that it’s not a matter of physical action, but of how the material and information are organized. In the modern, electronic world, the concept of authorship is blurring. We are constantly awash in information of all kinds, and it is so easy to cut, glue, and keep company that it is unclear who is the author of the texts we read on the Internet. Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov told me about this many years ago, without any connection with computers and the Internet. At that time, he predicted that authorship would disappear: it would be important not who wrote it, but what was written. This is not the most positive information, but nevertheless. Hypertext organization of texts will lead to a very strong stratification of readers. The reader is not just a reader, he is also a co—author – Tsvetaeva also wrote about this. And the depth of his interpretation depends on what he is reading, what he has read before, how he is configured, and so on. That is, the text is not a frozen stone formation. The text is always alive, it builds up information, as Lotman and many others have said. And the text changes depending on who is reading it. And anyone who writes books should take into account what is called theory of mind in English literature. It’s about the worldview of another person, a potential reader. In other words, the question should be answered: who is this book intended for? The one who writes books, he writes them for whom? For example, Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose” or Carroll’s “Alice”. Who are they written for? The first book can be read by just an ordinary reader as a detective story, and that’s why it’s a bestseller. After all, this book is a bestseller not because there are so many sophisticated intellectuals in the world, but because this novel read like a detective story. On the other hand, it is intended for a very subtle, highly developed reader, because there are a lot of allusions, historical associations, and so on. And Alice was written, of course, for children. But in fact, this is a giant work about how the world works. — This stratification will probably be facilitated by an abundance of information. Because it is very difficult for an ordinary person, not an expert, to understand all this and find high-quality information. – yes. I would say that information is so easily obtained that its value is unclear. Naturally, as a scientist, I cannot rely on Google. But the average person can get any information in one second: from the Higgs boson to the size of the cuffs of Louis XIV grandees. And this accessibility of information kind of reduces its value. There is little gold — it is expensive, there is little platinum — it is expensive, there is a lot of wood — it is cheap. On the other hand, there is so much information that it doesn’t seem to exist. The number of printed products is growing so fast that the human brain cannot process it all. But the most dangerous thing I see in this regard is that a person will lose interest in reading. It’s much easier to see funny pictures. That’s where the stratification happens again. Why are some people interested in loading their brains with complex tasks, why are some people interested in aesthetics? For example, watching a complicated movie is not for everyone, and maybe you don’t even understand this movie, but then look for comments, reviews, and interpretations to figure it out. Therefore, returning to the question of what will happen to the books. I think that books will be about the same as what is happening with education, not only here, but all over the world. There will be books for aesthetes, as well as elite education. You may like it or not, but it’s already there. There will be books written for a narrow circle of people who simply will not be perceived by others. And there will be literary trash, which will be less and less literary. So elite literature (and education) will become more and more elite and closed. That is, it will be open in terms of access, but no one will be able to read it. It’s like a Sumerian text or Hittite poetry. Source: Theory and Practice