Hegemony of visual information

Traditionally it was the ear that was the gateway to knowledge and understanding of cosmic significance. Many so-called primitive societies and non-literate peoples continue to sense themselves as being at the centre of a sounding universe - universe that is alive, dynamic with energy. But subtly the extension of vision, through the discovery of perspective and scientific methods, not only transformed but also reduced humankind's experience of its newly found domains. Literacy emphasizes the visual at the expense of the auditory. The deterioration of our sense of hearing has run remarkably parallel to secularization and industrialization. Whereas sound underlines the dynamic immediacy of the environment, visuali stimuli underline the distancing and separateness of events and objects from each other and from other people.