"Anyway, said escape hatch is a necessity for higher life forms"
So non-literate people are not "higher life forms"? I agree that higher life forms do generally need some form of non-work activity to keep sane, but people through millenia have managed to do that without books or writing. People were making music and telling stories long before either was written down.
Yes, a complex social structure is easier to manage if things are able to be kept in permanent form, and information is easier to spread. But that doesn't necessarily mean writing (unless you also define visual and auditory arts as writing). Indeed, many parts of current society seem to be slipping away from the written form as other forms of communication and storage of information become easier and cheaper.
no subject
So non-literate people are not "higher life forms"? I agree that higher life forms do generally need some form of non-work activity to keep sane, but people through millenia have managed to do that without books or writing. People were making music and telling stories long before either was written down.
Yes, a complex social structure is easier to manage if things are able to be kept in permanent form, and information is easier to spread. But that doesn't necessarily mean writing (unless you also define visual and auditory arts as writing). Indeed, many parts of current society seem to be slipping away from the written form as other forms of communication and storage of information become easier and cheaper.