Journal #9

Writing at its core has not changed significantly from the the 18th century until now; the purpose of writing is still steady in the sense that it's goal is to convey a message, idea, or emotion.  I would agree that over the past hundred years though writing has become a skill most people are taught and the actual style of writing has changed with time.  As Cristina pointed out, it is hard for us to fathom that in the 18th century writing was only a trait the elite and wealthy were taught; for now most American's are able to compose some form of the written word.  In addition, a major advancement 21st century writers have in comparison to 18th century writers is the access to uncountable amounts of information.  Search engines on the internet make it much easier for modern writers to form opinions and arguments by 'remixing' information they found on the web.

In the 18th century copywriting and citing sources was not as big of a concern, although today with eons of information and countless ideas floating around the internet it is almost vital to use them in a composition and just as vital to give the author credit. The ideology that 'nothing is new under the sun', holds much truth in this circumstance, for most concepts have been thought of before and most have been published in some form.  I think that the form of writing Ben had in the essay 'Remix', is a beautiful representation of how the style or writing will evolve.  In the 21st century, I think our goal as a writer should not be necessarily creating a new genius concept, although it should be building off of other people's concepts and brining in different ideas from great thinkers.  We should 'remix' ideas already 'under the sun' and use them as building blocks to create something perhaps 'newish' idea.