The development of Writing made available a critical new tool for the advance of knowledge, but, like all tools, it was only useful if employed. The greater the percentage of the population that was Literate, the greater the advantage that could be taken from Writing. Where only priests and scribes were Literate, all others had to share knowledge slowly, by face-to-face contact. When a high percentage of the population was Literate, as in classical Greece, the economy benefited and the advance of knowledge accelerated.
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