Writing flyting

What’s the deal with writing? Why do we keep getting scolded that writing should be not executed by a machine but by a human? We’re quite happy to allow counting to be done by a computer connected to the check-out in the supermarket; more than happy to allow percentage calculation to be executed by a calculator; and resigned to our computers suggesting le mot juste, or correcting our spelling. We’re perfectly happy to have machines spit out ideas, televisions to entertain us. I wonder if there were Jeremiahs around at the time to warn our ancestor off getting up onto a horse’s back — you’ll never be able to walk again? Universities strive to turn out people who can write. Once upon a time universities existed in order to turn out priests; then civil servants; for a brief period, a well-rounded man/woman; now people who’ll just be able to get a job. We really don’t need good handwriting nowadays, but when I was an undergraduate my essays would be marked down if the handwriting was…