We are living through the birth of the next renaissance, and yet many smart people don’t suspect this is the case. Let me explain. For the first time in human history, we are experiencing the creation of a new narrative, a new context of understanding, one that cannot be controlled by the church, state, or corporate combines. And yet, we are in a challenging time in which it seems humanity is more cult-minded and tribalistic than at any time before in our lifetimes. The banning and virtual book-burning going on by an elitist establishment hiding behind a “woke” cancel culture threatening free speech globally–this is a shocking emergent fact pattern of the last few years. To put it simply, being “read in” (which is an intelligence community term) is more important now than ever. Okay, so how many of us are “read in”? The book as a medium might seem to you banal, commonplace, but consider what it really is, a codex combination of the most rudimentary technology interacting with human consciousness–language. Language is spoken and written word, a complex enough technology to communicate every conceivable form of meaning available to the human mind. So how is our use of language evolving over a continuum? Time ——————————————————– > Clearly, humanity is starting to get less and less information from actual books, and instead is gradually becoming addicted to an assortment media diet available to us via the internet. But what is being lost because of this change? There is little to no discussion of what unexpected impact fewer readers of books will have on our society, our economy, our discourse, our very mental lives. Why is that? Books are derivative creations of our minds using the most rudimentary ancient technology used by the human mind to collectively express our experience illuminated in the light of our own consciousness. Language allows us to share universal experiences within the collective consciousness we call reality. The book is that technology unshackled by time constraints. The book is language in the richness of its full context. The book is the pillar for the establishment of complex, nuanced human thought. The book, in effect, is consciousness unleashed. Books, the good old tome, if you will, allow human minds to gather more psychological truth and depth than other, less in-depth forms of media. Books allow us to think in high-resolution about complicated truths in the realm of conceptualization, abstraction, and pure rational thought. Books also enrich drama and storytelling, it gives substance to the narrative, allowing artists and thinks to intellectually exercise within the piece, to show characters who are growing and going through changes in all their psychological depth. Film and now the internet and all its sources of video, it seems (I myself admire and enjoy film and work on films in my career)—I  was ultimately tempted by the unlimited possibilities of the novel over the confines of working primarily in film. The novel, I believe, is being diminished as an institution because it is by definition the radical pillar of the press/theatre complex, it is the psychologically deep, alchemical transformative solution in which all stories, all narratives swim. Our culture is changing. Technology has empowered a small interest group beyond anything in our nation’s history. Our culture has been hacked. In all the hysteria of the cancel culture in which social media giants shadowban hundreds of millions of people… We are losing the thread of a lot of the most foundational ideas of the enlightenment, Renaissance,, constitution and the Bill of rights, the foundational ideas of our republic and experiment in self-governance. This alarming pattern comes from the majority of the public being too glib, trifling intellects, the farthest