Luther's birthplace

Martin Luther is strongly linked to one of humanity's revolutions: the printing press.

British thinker Roman Krznaric makes the following comparison with the social media revolution in our time:

"The printing press quickly became the instrument to attack the power holders of that time, particularly the Catholic Church. The Protestant reformer Martin Luther, who dominated the print runs of radical pamphlets, was the first to go 'viral'. He proved to be a shrewd communicator: Luther knew how to appeal to people and spread drawings of the pope or priests as half-beasts, to demonize them. This led to extreme polarization between Catholics and Protestants. It accelerated conflicts between social groups or regions. Thus, the printing press contributed to decades of religious wars, which claimed up to eight million European lives."

"That time also knew clickbait and fake news: a stream of hateful, terrifying propaganda about witches. Thousands of women were tortured and ended up on the stake."

"The image of the printing press as a highway to literacy and the spread of knowledge is thus a naive simplification of what really happened. I see the same lack of historical insight today among American tech entrepreneurs, who claim that their algorithms 'only want to bring people together'. I find that incredibly naive."

Mediahuis België