Tech Buzzwords

The printing press is an invention frequently invoked by technology evangelists to demonstrate the value of the internet (and to excuse harms that it may cause). Advocates note that, similar to Gutenberg’s printing press, the internet has democratized knowledge and changed the way people communicate.

“If you read a criticism of Facebook, try subbing in the word “printing press” and see if it still makes sense.” — Tyler Cowen economics professor and author of Marginal Revolution

The information revolution spurred by the advent of digital technologies may turn out to be even more powerful than the Gutenberg revolution; it is also likely to be bloody. - David Samuels in Wired

Not since Gutenberg invented the printing press has the world seen such an important revolution in how we communicate as when Zuckerburg created Facebook. Sure, the printing press led to some social unrest (e.g., the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years War, etc.), but in the end, we can all agree that everyone should be able to have books.

The printing press can refer to:

• A misleading analogy that equates Facebook with the internet (which it sometimes is).

• An assumption that commercial social media and search engines are fundamentally challenging democracy by seeding doubts about the integrity of information.

• A common analogy made by tech industry proponents, critics, and advocacy groups to suggest that we are in the midst of an information revolution, historicizing Facebook and abstracting from current interventions into commercial social media.

“We’re living the most profound change in how we communicate with each other since Gutenberg invented the printing press,” said Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation president. “The internet has changed our lives and is changing our democracy."

Gutenberg is basically the "patron saint of entrepreneurs".

The printing press is a mass media technology. Likewise, commercial social media is a mass media technology that can arguably continue the legacy of the printing press.

For example, there is a contentious debate over how Twitter and other social media can spread and amplify waves of antigovernment protests (e.g. the Arab Spring) to create a more open, transnational public sphere. During the Arab Spring, disparate groups across North Africa and the Middle East staged anti-government protests, using social media to organize collective actions.