Chapter 27 The mode of info and postmodernity by Mark Poster

OK, in the print culture, there is a distance (gap) between the speaker and the listener, and the principle of language is to extend the human voice while permitting individuals to think. In the electronic culture, the gap still exists, but the interpretation is a different: the electronic communication both broadens the gap (allowing enlarged space between the speaker and the listener), and bring them together. Therefore, language in the electronic culture in no longer "objective" and "neutral", instead, it "becomes or better reconfigures reality". Well, first, I don't quite get the meanings and implications of the term "the mode of information". Second, I think that Poster describes language and interactivity is a highly sophisticated manner. Maybe too sophisticated. Is there really such a huge difference in lanuage itself made by the electronic communications? I don't really think so. To me, language is far from objective or neutral even in the so called print culture. The electronic communication does, to a large extent, change the way people communicate. The communication has become highly interactive. However, it does not seem to me that the essence of language itself is changed as well. The author's arguments are intriguing, but might be a little overstated.