Do we need words anymore?

Earlier this week I was in a large office in Central London and I found myself listening to the things that were going on around me. There wasn't much talking, but there was an awful lot of tap-tapping as people punched out emails, composed Word documents on their computers, or entered data into web forms and applications. A huge volume of written content was being created just on that floor. Multiply that by the number of floors in that building; by the number of buildings in London; by the number of cities around the world and you'll end up with an (almost) incalculable number of words. Most of that content will be available to us via the web.

I've read reminders that Moore's Law does not and cannot apply to the human brain. Human beings are beginning to suffer from information saturation. And what about people in developing countries who cannot read or write. They don't have this skill, but they are increasingly getting access to the technology allowing them to connect to content. What use are all those words to them?

Is the answer video? We can assimilate knowledge video messages much faster than we can through the written word, and it allows an additional dimension to the message - facial expression, body language and so on. The barrier to entry has really dropped with the growing popularity of YouTube and other video sharing sites. Creating content is also easy with the wide availability of video capture capability on mobile phones and portable mini cameras such as the Creative Vado. With all these tools it may even be quicker to create video than writing the same content as words.

Hmmmm.