There is no science without writing. There is no medicine without writing. There is no history without writing. Contracts can't exist without writng. Laws are what the strongest people say they are without writing. People that are literate live longer than those who are not.

If you were to compare a neighborhood that was violent, dirty, and dysfunctional with one in the same city that was affluent, well ordered, and peaceful, I would bet that the people in the nicer neighborhood had more written material in their homes by a factor of hundreds.