Plato wrote in Phaedrus
This invention [writing] will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them.
He was not wrong. We forget stuff all the time and in huge quantities. I can't even remember my own phone number half of the time.
Those guys could recite substantial portions of the Homeric epics. It's just that there is more to intelligence than rote memorization. That's the good news.
The bad news is that this amorphous "more" was "critical thinking" and we are starting to outsource it.
Writing had existed for 3000 years by then, alphabetic writing in Greek had existed for several centuries. The quote about "the invention of writing" is Socrates telling a story where a mythical Egyptian king says that.
Socrates also says in this dialogue:
"Any one may see that there is no disgrace in the mere fact of writing."
The essence of his admonishment is that having access to written text is not enough to produce understanding, and I not only tend to agree, I think it is more relevant than ever now.
I’m inclined to believe he was right? There’s other benefits to writing (and the act of writing) that weren’t well understood at the time though.
That’s okay, we’re moving to post reading :)
What did you say?
I'll have an AI make a tiktok video to summarize my post just for you!