Paper Media vs Electronic Media: A Proposal of Comparative Media Theory for Overcoming the Limits of Technology-Centric Approach by Fusing the Humanities and Sciences

Abstract

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for comparing the relationship of paper media and electronic media beginning with ancient Greek philosophy. It particularly focuses on maintaining an academic balance between the humanities and natural sciences. The adopted major academic areas include media theory, semiotics, developmental psychology, cognitive science as well as information theories. The decisive factors for selecting media are media's affinity for human beings and its hardware performance. This paper explains reasons behind the dominance of paper media for human intellectual progress. The mind-body dualism theory and related theories offer new insights into a variety of situations associated with media.