The Media Theory That Explains “99% of Everything”

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.7 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the mid-20th century, a group of media and communications scholars proposed that the shift from spoken to written language—from orality to literacy—transformed our politics, our media, our social relations, and even our sense of consciousness. Today we’re undergoing another shift: from a literate culture to something stranger—a post-literate world awash in social media and digital communications in which oral traditions are making a comeback. Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal, the cohost of the Odd Lots podcast, has called this one of the most important trends in the world. Today he explains how he got hooked on orality theory and why it’s the skeleton key that unlocks so many oddities of the modern world. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Joe Weisenthal Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You plan a holiday, you plan a commute, meal plans, career plans, even workouts need a plan.
0:12.8	So doesn't it stand to reason that your money has one too?
0:15.9	Because the sad truth is, if it doesn't, it's just sitting there, barely growing, if at all. That's why you need
0:22.4	a money plan, and Quilter can help. It's a lot easier to stick to than a workout plan. Money needs a
0:29.3	plan. Quilter, pensions, investments, advice. Find out more at Quilter. Prime video brings the best in entertainment.
0:38.7	The end of the world continues with season two of the global phenomenon fallout, included with Prime.
0:45.4	I defer to you about what to do in this situation.
0:47.5	Bring home the epic conclusion to the untold story of the witches of Oz.
0:51.4	Buy or rent, Wicked for Good Now.
0:53.3	I'm taking you to see the wizard.
0:55.7	There's no going back.
0:57.3	Whatever you're into, it's right here.
0:59.7	Prime Video, click or tap the banner to find out more.
1:06.5	Welcome back to plain English.
1:09.0	Last year we did an episode on this show called The End of Reading,
1:12.6	and in it I talked about a short story that I just read by the science fiction writer Ted Chang.
1:18.0	That story was called The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling, and it's from his collection exhalation.
1:24.2	The story runs on two tracks at once.
1:27.1	In the first part of the story, in the near future, a journalist is sent to cover a new
1:31.4	technology called REMEM, like the beginning of the word remember.
1:35.9	Remem lets people record their entire lives and replay any moment on a retinal projector.
1:41.3	Basically, it's like perfect memory on demand, a little bit like that
	...

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