Anwar warns decline in reading and shallow thinking threaten civilisation

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — The decline of reading culture and the rise of shallow thinking in the digital age are pressing challenges that could threaten the future of civilisation, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

In a Facebook post yesterday, the prime minister shared his thoughts after taking time to read the latest work by James Marriott, titled The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-Literate Society .

He said the threat to civilisation does not stem from a loss of access to knowledge — of which there is now a glut — but from society’s waning love and patience for reading, reflecting, and thinking critically and deeply.

“We may be increasingly wealthy in information, yet impoverished in wisdom. The question, therefore, is not merely whether humanity still reads, but whether humanity still wants to think,” he said.

Reflecting on history, Anwar recalled society’s deep reverence for intellectual and literary traditions upon the death of great French writer Victor Hugo in 1885, which saw around two million people gather in Paris to pay their last respects.

He said a similar scene unfolded following the death of renowned Russian literary giant Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1881, when tens of thousands joined his funeral procession in Saint Petersburg, demonstrating how deeply society at the time valued literature, culture, intellectual traditions, and thought.

“Neither of them was a king nor a victorious warlord, but they were thinkers and scholars whose ideas resonated deeply in the hearts and minds of society,” he added. — Bernama

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吉隆坡，10月29日讯——首相拿督斯里安华·易卜拉欣表示，数字时代阅读文化的衰落和浅薄思维的兴起是紧迫的挑战，可能会威胁到文明的未来。

昨天，首相在 Facebook 上发帖分享了他阅读詹姆斯·马里奥特最新著作《新黑暗时代：阅读的终结与后识字社会的曙光》后的感想。

他表示，对文明的威胁并非源于知识获取渠道的匮乏（如今知识已经过剩），而是源于社会对阅读、反思以及批判性和深度思考的热爱和耐心日渐衰退。

“我们或许拥有越来越多的信息，却缺乏智慧。因此，问题不仅在于人类是否还在阅读，而在于人类是否还想思考，”他说道。

回顾历史，安瓦尔回忆起1885年法国伟大作家维克多·雨果去世时，社会对知识和文学传统的深深敬意，当时约有两百万人聚集在巴黎向他致以最后的敬意。

他表示，1881 年俄罗斯著名文学巨匠费奥多尔·陀思妥耶夫斯基去世后，也出现了类似的场景。当时，成千上万的人参加了他在圣彼得堡的葬礼游行，这表明当时的社会对文学、文化、知识传统和思想的重视程度。

“他们既非君王，也非战无不胜的军阀，而是思想家和学者，他们的思想深深地触动了社会大众的心灵，”他补充道。——马新社

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