Plato tells the story about how the technology of writing can be feared:
Thoth has invented writing and proudly offers it as a gift to the king of Egypt, declaring it "an elixir of memory and wisdom". But the king is horrified, and tells him: "This invention will induce forgetfulness in the souls of those who have learned it, because they will not need to exercise their memories, being able to rely on what is written…rather than, from within, their own unaided powers to call things to mind. So it's not a remedy for memory, but for reminding, that you have discovered. And as for wisdom, you are equipping your pupils with only a semblance of it, not with truth."
Now we talk about the internet making us dumb. I'm not trying to make a point, but it's a cute quote, eh?
H/T Gordo.
4 comments:
If I'd done school without writing, my memory might be in a lot better shape now, which would've helped my intelligence. Illiterate people are differently intelligent. And yet there is a quantity issue - pages (or internets) can certainly hold more than a brain. FIN
How about the GTD process of reducing a reliance on the memory?
Does writing then become an extension of the memory, or a hindrance of it?
Not sure about dumber, but there is some good research showing that literacy does affect the way we think, for better and for worse. The classic work on this is Walter J. Ong's "Orality and Literacy".
Literacy reduces memory and story skills but fosters analytical ability. Interestingly there is evidence that multimedia is leading us back to "2ndary orality" - people who are literate but process information orally. This is very relevant for how we teach.
Post a Comment