Literature at the Human-Computer Seam

Some of the technology-generated changes may not have a measurable effect on the end literary product: despite the lamentations of many writers, it is not clear whether the physical act of writing on a word processor truly changes the written document. In the same vein, though it is astonishing that a book can be written in the United States, edited in Switzerland, typeset in India, and proofread in Scotland, all without once manifesting itself on paper, it is not clear how transportation over wires is qualitatively different from transportation via tramp steamer or cargo airplane, and whether it changes the substance of the final work.