Blog Six

In the beginning of chapter four of “Alphabet That Thinks” Lahnam states, “Electronic text provides powerful new ways to allocate human attention”(130). Lahnam into detail explaining that the various technologies concerning text has changed the way in which information is handled and distributed. Lahnam goes further into detail and discussed the model called C-B-S which stands for “Clarity-Brevity-Sincerity” this model is used for human communication. He explains that because we communicate with words, words should be seen as “things.” He asks the reader the question of what would happen when we move from print work to the instability of digital expression.

I agree with Lanham in that if we were to follow the C-B-S model our lives would be far different and very boring. When you strip away certain creative acts of communication we lose our selves. Lanham states, “The C-B-S ideal of communication, while great for moral exhortation, proves of limited use in analyzing actual acts of communication. Powerful and important, but limited”(140). I agree with this statement personally the ability to produce a piece of communication in a creative way is something we are constantly trying to produce, to be creative is to be noticed. . The “domain” of rhetoric was said to be compared to slang and the creative ways we use words. It was stated through the text that plain language is often compared to plain living most of us wouldn’t like to be around “plain” language throughout our day. Language is fundamental to our society, it is how we communicate with others, and express our feelings.