The Printing Press and How it Changed the World

 Blog Post #4

The Printing Press and How it Changed the World

Its Invention

The invention of the printing press is credited to Johannes Gutenberg near 1436, however, the idea of using letter blocks for printing far predates this invention; woodblock printing can be traced back to the ninth century China, printing with movable metal pieces stems from Korea a century prior to Gutenberg's invention (history.com). The printing press itself is set up as a matrix for which letters (which were on metal blocks) would be placed in the desired location in order to form words and sentences. The blocks would then be lathered with ink, paper would be placed on a platform below the matrix, and the matrix would be pressed down onto the page below. 

The movement

The printing press changed the world in seven major ways: 

    1. It allowed for a global news network to be launched, 

    2. It sped up the already started renaissance, 

    3. There is a first best-selling author (Martin Luther), 

    4. The ability to print enables a scientific revolution, 

    5. It gave a voice to the opinions of the minority, 

    6. It gave a pathway for public opinion to become revolution, and 

    7. It is the first time machines are blamed for taking jobs from workers. 

These are lasting effects we can still see today even though it has been almost 600 years since the Gutenberg Press came into existence (history.com). While some of these effects now exist in different ways than they once did, they can still be seen with modern technologies. 

But What is It?

The printing press is a matrix that allows for metal blocks to be placed along lines, lathered in ink, and
pressed down onto pages below, this is how the print was made. These machines were quite large and would require workers to place each letter individually and operate the matrix. Compared to printing nowadays, this system was incredibly rudimentary and took an extremely long time. However, compared to scribing, this process was considered incredibly quick for the time.

Global News Network

Having a global news network for the first time allowed for people to understand what was happening outside of their direct local area. While this sort of "globalization" is nothing compared to the scale of what globalization is today, it was the first major movement towards globalism. The ability to print news at a much faster rate than individual scribing gives the world the ability to connect to any place someone could travel to with the printed news. While this still may have not been particularly quick or effective, it is the first time we see news able to spread at a rate that rapid.

The Renaissance Speeds Up

The ability to use moveable print allowed for a major increase in authors' ability to become published (Cartwright, 2020). Already known authors were now able to spread their ideas and writings at a much more rapid rate, but it also now gave a voice to unknown authors that previously did not have the resources to spread their works through scribing. 

The lack of need for a scribe also was able to make books much more affordable than they had been previously. This allowed for a whole new class of reader to be able to consume writing as an art form. Ideas were now spreading through pamphlets, Romance novels, and most famously the Gutenberg Bible. These being accessible to not just the highest class of people being able to afford them truly allowed for the Renaissance to flourish and for people to open up to new ideas and creative possibilities. 

Martin Luther

Gutenberg produced his printing press at a time before patents and copyright law. This meant that his invention was not safe from being remade by anyone who understood how his invention worked. Martin Luther built a printing press and soon became the first best selling author in the world. 

Martin Luther was able to rapid publish numerous Christian-themed works between 1520 and 1545 due to the ability to scribe the work just once, then have it printed much faster on his printing press (Karant-Nunn et. al., 2017). According to Karant-Nunn et. al., Luther is actually credited with developing an entirely new industry through his rapid use of the printing press, with his publishers printing an average of 91 works per year between 1517 and 1546 (2017). 

Scientific Revolution

While the spread of information was far more rapid due to the printing press, one of the major impacts of the printing press allowing for the scientific revolution to occur, was the fact that the information was printed far more accurately than when shared through scribing (Ghaffar, 2009). The ability of scientists to both quickly and accurately share their findings and ideas allowed for scientific advancements to be faster than they ever had before. The invention of the printing press was one of the most impactful single inventions for science in this time period.

Minority Opinions Find a Voice

For the first time people with minority opinions about major issues have a voice and an ability to spread
their message. Giving a platform for public disagreement to take place upon was a major catalyst for many major historic events to follow. It also created the foundations of modern-day democracy, with both sides to all issues having avenues for their voices to be heard it was now possible for public debate and the advocacy of both sides. This allowed minority opinions to gain traction in a way they would have never been able to without the power of print. Prior to printing majority opinions were spread with so much ease due to the fact more people sought to spread that information.

Public Opinion can Now Become Revolutionary

To continue on the point of minority opinions having a newfound voice, Revolution was now on the table. Given that both sides to all issues were spreading, when people at large disagreed with public policy, they were now able to know how widespread this feeling could be. Due to this, they were now able to connect with one another and together, have much more of a voice than a single person. Soon after, in history we see multiple revolts against various things surrounding them, most notably the Revolutionary War.

"The Machines are Taking Our Jobs!"

Something common in today's society with rapid advancements in technology such as AI, this is the first time we see society blaming machines for their jobs being taken. Now that scribes were not needed in such a high number due to the fact that printing presses could share information much faster, the former scribes found themselves out of work. It is interesting to see that this has prevailed through history and can still be seen so prevalently today. Something that today is thought of as such low level technology being the first thing blamed as major technology taking jobs away from workers. 

The World Would Never be the Same

Overall, the printing press was an extremely revolutionary invention for the time. The spread of information and knowledge that took place due to the ability to print changed the world and brought education and literacy to a whole class of people that had never had previous access to major written materials. The original printing press laid the groundwork for all types of printing that have since followed and made extremely important strides to bring information to as many people as possible. Had the printing press never been invented, there is no telling where technology and literacy rates would be today, however, it is impossible to believe that information would be able to flow as fluidly as it is able to now.