crumpled wad of Kleenex,
notebook,
a napkin,
pen.

I believe one next will attempt to arrive at their relative positions. The pen is on top of the napkin, the napkin on top of the notebook, the open notebook, the crumpled wad of Kleenex is to the left of the opened notebook. What then, what further describes the articles? Is there writing on the articles? There is writing on the napkin, which is creased, but not folded; there is writing on the book (the notebook). What then is the position of the writing relative to that which it’s written on? That is, is the writing itself level, perfectly level, with what it’s been written on? the ink or the writing … (the ink equal to the writing.. ) the writing will seem to lie flush on what it’s written on, it will seem as flat as that which its written on (the napkin, the notebook) the napkin does not lie flush on the notebook. Would the writing seen under a microscope appear upraised or indented on that which it’s written on; that is, above or below the surface of the napkin and notebook? Or would you rather say that it varies, in accordance with which writing implement has been used? It somewhat varies in accordance with what’s been used to write.

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in each case the writing is not exactly level with the surface of what it’s written on, though appearing somewhat to be so (And it must be written on something mustn’t it). Some block letters appear in a felt tip marker, this marker has seemed to glide over the surface of the paper, to stain rather than to impress itself and its ink upon the material; under a microscope it must probably appear to be slightly upraised from the paper it’s been written on but only as a varnish or a shellac would. Other writing occurs in a ball point pen. This pen would seem to have impressed minute valleys or gulleys into what’s been written on, particularly in the case of the napkin, which is apparently more yielding or retentive of impressions of this sort than is for example the cover of the notebook; after which it seems to have stained that portion that it previously or concomitantly depressed. So it somewhat depends on what you take as the surface of the paper to establish whether the writing appears above or below it; however, it can be certainly said that it (and I mean now the ink) is not precisely level with the surface. Now contrast this with writing on the computer screen, opened to a writing program of some sort. Does the writing appear to be on the same level as the surface it’s been written on, or above or below that surface, as was found to be the case with what’s been written on paper? The writing appears to occur on the same level as what it’s been written on. The writing seems to be on the same level as the surface and to be of the same material as the surface. What writes and what’s been written on appears to be, unlike with the pen and the paper, of the same. (Although, in fact, I can’t say it’s obvious that I know what I’m doing when I’m writing on the computer, if I’m writing, niether with what or on what I’m writing.) (However, it does seem to me a bit as if the written on and the writing have been compressed into something like the slide that one fits beneath a microscope, as if pen and paper have been compressed to the extent that they are one, or nearly one, and one with the writing they cause to appear.) Now extrapolate. Without looking at a printed book, and assuming that what’s been said as to where writing occurs with respect to the surface of what’s been written on in the case of pen and paper (or napkin) on the one hand, and the computer on the other, has been correct; how then would you discuss works made by the impression of type upon paper, as by a printing press or typewriter for example? As a mean between them, I think you would have me say: that in the case of the printing press that which has been written is closer to the surface of that which has been written on than is the case with the writing of pen upon paper (or of quill upon papyrus) and yet farther from the written-on surface than is the case with the computer. Though I will confess to having reservations about this –But you would conclude from this, these “reservations” aside…? That the computer represents the end of a process, probably historical in character, whereby that which is written on and that which is written have striven to be the same and of the same. The computer makes pen and paper the same.

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