Mutative Media is a sweeping examination of how communication technologies have contributed to changes in people's thoughts and actions, and thus in the power structures of societies, in the past, at present, and in four alternative futures.

We start by surveying what is generally known about the emergence of human language and speech that has enabled humans to extend their organizing abilities beyond that of other hominids. We then review research on the emergence of signs, symbols, and eventually writing, which led to new ways of thinking, acting, and organizing in scribal...