Wednesday, September 05, 2012

The modern "sword" and "pen"

So which is mightier? The sword or the pen? It has always been a question that people asked. And are still asking. While I will not try to say which is the mightier, what I want to offer is a modern insight into the concept of the sword and the pen.

The sword (武 in Chinese) used to represent martial prowess, while the pen (文 in Chinese) to represent knowledge. But in this modern age, how relevant is martial prowess? Especially when put against knowledge?

Maybe the sword should be a better representation of hard skills (which were what martial prowess was back then) and the pen a representation of soft skills (which was what knowledge was back then too)? If we look at it that way, the modern "sword" should no longer be confined to martial prowess, but include knowledge of technical skills (engineering and science included). The modern "pen" can then be used to represent the arts, including literature and the fine arts. Our modern "sword" is thus "science", and the "pen" is "arts". Or maybe, all along, the sword has been science and the pen has been the arts, and we have been taking things too literally?

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