Point to ponder

[avevale_intelligencer]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that no-one will ever be in need of a writer.

Discuss, taking care to distinguish between "need" as we might externally perceive it from our civilised standpoint, and need as it would appear to people whose primary concern is survival.

Comments

[batyatoon]

I would disagree pretty strongly if you hadn't specified "written".

As your definition stands, though, you're probably right -- mostly because you only need a relatively brief respite in the struggle for survival to tell or hear a story, but you need serious leisure time to develop mass literacy.

We've needed storytellers for pretty much as long as we've been human. But writers are only of any use to us if we can read.