The surface on which civilization recorded itself — invented in China around 100 BCE, transmitted westward through the Islamic world, and eventually combined with movable type to produce the information revolution that made the modern world; now being displaced by digital surfaces whose consequences are still unfolding
Paper is the surface on which civilization recorded itself for almost two thousand years. Before paper, writing required clay tablets, papyrus from the Nile delta, parchment from animal skins, or carved stone — all expensive, scarce, or heavy. Paper is cheap, light, flexible, and can be made from plant material almost anywhere. Its invention in China, its diffusion through the Islamic world, and its eventual combination with the printing press in Europe produced the information infrastructure on which science, law, bureaucracy, and mass literacy were all built. We are now in the middle of replacing paper with digital surfaces — and the consequences are only beginning to be understood.