Term Paper Idea?

Potential thesis:

The oral tradition gives the past a place in the present by relating the collective knowledge of past generations to contemporary society. It facilitates social evolution through its frequent adaptation, and printed and electronic documentation has proven to aid the oral tradition in this endeavor rather than undermine its progress.

I find it hard to believe that the oral tradition is not aided by modern technology. I see it as fulfilling the same purpose that is always has. Each book, although it cannot talk back in as intimate a forum as a personal conversation, stands simply as a statement in the collective, global conversation. The only change that has taken place to the oral tradition since the invention of the alphabet is the expansion of the oral tradition’s forum. The oral tradition has always stood as the collective knowledge of all generations, for the benefit of the current society. It still does, except assertions, opinions, and convictions can be referenced instantaneously through printed or electronic media and are available to those outside the earshot of Socrates’s soapbox.