Over the past millennium, the Western alphabet has barely evolved. The way typography is displayed on an iPad retina display still largely resembles the way text was arranged on a 2000 year-old parchment scroll. Even though mechanical typewriters were invented more then 150 years ago, we still input text on almost identical keyboards – albeit their apparent flaws and the substantial cultural and technological advancement since. Why is typography so resistant to change?

This lecture addresses anachronisms in typography, failed attempts to reform typographic conventions, and how Science Fiction can help us to understand the typographic conditions of our time.