From The Guardian:
The 2008 Nobel laureate JMG le Clézio looked to the wider world in his Nobel lecture last night, warning of the dangers of information poverty and calling for publishers to increase their efforts to put books in the hands of people around the world.
Speaking at the Swedish Academy, the 68-year-old French writer defended globalisation and hailed the internet's ability to "forestall conflicts", suggesting the web could even, perhaps, have put a stop to Hitler, through "ridicule".
But the novelist, who has travelled widely in Thailand, Mexico, Panama, Africa and South America and now lives mainly in New Mexico, poured scorn on the idea that the internet could transform the lives of people around the world on its own.
"To provide nearly everyone on the planet with a liquid crystal display is utopian," he said. "Are we not, therefore, in the process of creating a new elite, of drawing a new line to divide the world between those who have access to communication and knowledge, and those who are left out?"
For Le Clézio, the book, despite its old-fashioned appearance, remains the best tool for disseminating information to the furthest corners of the planet.
"It is practical, easy to handle, economical," he said. "It does not require any particular technological prowess, and keeps well in any climate."
Read the rest here.
Comments