Importance

There are two reasons why the work I am doing is important. First, reading is a quintessential cognitive activity. As such, if we can understand more about reading, we can understand more about thinking in general. And, in fact, this is well-represented in my work. The supertasks I am presenting in the theory are not limited to the art of reading; instead, they are general cognitive supertasks which come together to produce reading. These supertasks, along with others not discussed or proposed, may combine to produce other types of cognitive behavior, particularly other forms of reading behavior not currently covered by the work. The second reason for the importance of this work is that reading itself is a useful thing to study, and it would continue to be so even if it did not reveal insights into general cognition. Reading appears to be a uniquely human activity; further, we all seem to have capacity to perform it (barring physical limitations).