The invention of writing may have happened for commercial and economic reasons in Mesopotamia, but ever since its conception it has revolutionized our world and thinking.
Writing may be taken for granted these days, but it was indeed an enormous and highly significant invention that has been largely responsible for the development and structure of human society.
Yet its invention happened in a far away land and under rather modest circumstances.
The Invention of Writing for Commercial and Economic Transactions
Most likely the invention of writing happened for commercial reasons in Mesopotamia. It was initially used as a mnemonic device that would represent the number of cattle that belonged to a person or family as well as a representation of economic transactions between the buyer and the seller.
In fact, the inventor of the first tablets must have realized the power that such records or documentation entailed. A plethora of information could be kept and stored on tablets, which was a better and more accurate and reliable indication compared to the limited capacities of the human mind.
The Social and Practical Benefits of Writing in Space and Time
Another advantage that came with writing was the fact that the physical presence of the memory-holder, that is the writer of the symbols, was not required anymore to retrieve information; messages could be sent and passed on not only across space but even beyond time and from generation to generation.
Even in its infancy had writing already the potential to become one of the most impressive and significant manners of leaving a lasting imprint on future generations, and as a result, it provided a way of escaping oblivion and becoming immortal.
In history, writing became an important and powerful skill and the scribe became essential for the functioning and regulation of society, and hence, they were highly respected. In Mesopotamian society scribes came to form an aristocratic elite.
For instance, in Babylon, not anyone could become a scribe; only certain specially selected and trained individuals were given the opportunity to become scribes.
Development of Writing from Pictures to Abstract Ideas
Over time, the act of writing became more sophisticated and was able to express more complex abstract ideas. During the mnemonic phase, glyphs worked merely as a reminder. It was followed by the pictographic stage where the symbols came to represent objects and animals.
Finally, it was the ideographic stage where an idea could be represented regardless of its actual physical representation.
Writing may have started out due to the commercial reasons and economic ambitions of an anonymous person or group of people who had merely inscribed symbols on a tablet, but since then it has evolved constantly and progressively and has become a status symbol of power and control that led to increased knowledge and communication among people and across borders and the limits of time.
As such, writing, especially with the advent of the Gutenberg Press, revolutionized our way of thinking and acting, and its modern equivalent is the surging power of the Internet which also has managed to sweep across boundaries surviving the ultimate test of time.
Source
Alberto Manguel - A History of Reading