How do people lives improve when they can read and write?

Answer 1

The necessity for writing and reading can bee seen if we go back in human history.

Historically, writing and reading was a big step forward in cultural evolution. Previously, information was passed on simply by means of verbal communication(so we assume) and simple memorizing. But this mode of information storage is flawed by the inaccuracy of human memory, information gets simply lost over time. Have you ever been able to completely aaccurately recall a story you memorized 6 months ago? Not to mention telephone numbers, passwords etc.

Writing (and reading as a means to retrieve the stored information) was a big step forward, as it allowed information to be stored unaltered over huge periods of time. It could also be distributed over huge distances without the need of the originator to be physically present. Thus it was possible for big empires to distribute their laws unaltered to all their remote provinces.

Today, still most of the information we perceive everyday is in written form. Consider simple things like street signs, subway/bus timetables, restaurant menus, your friends entries on your Facebook page, text messages, manuals, package inserts for medicine and so on.

Being able to read (and write) gives you the ability and assurance that you can record and access information over long periods of time without any bias of the narrator.

In sum, reading and writing gives people the freedom to record their information and retrieve it in exactly the way it was recorded, eliminating loss of information and bias due to a narrator.