Chapter 1.9 Response / Alessandro Ludovico's Post Digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing since 1894

The Death of Paper… Has Yet To Happen

I find it both funny and interesting people have been predicting that the death of paper for about a hundred years especially when it hasn’t happened yet and I predict that it will probably never happen. Print has stayed with us for centuries and if print has stayed with us for that long of a time like how people have, for the most part, always worn clothes, then it will probably never die. Many people still like to draw, paint or write in journals and sketchbooks. What would happen to the artists or writers who still prefer traditional types of media if we no longer produce paper? Well, of course, they’d get frustrated. Many also still prefer to read the newspaper, novels, or magazines. How would we be able to comply with these consumers needs if they'd rather want to read from a physical form rather than a 2-D digital one? And even if we have technology like nooks or kindles, there will always be people who would prefer to buy the physical copy (like me)? Thus, I believe that paper will still be a needed medium for everyone in the future, whether or not you’re an artist, writer or reader. Paper’s existence will continue to exist just for a while longer, if not forever.