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acoardyesterday at 5:28 PM2 repliesview on HN

Plato on how reading and writing make us more forgetful as we rely on this new technology:

> And so it is that you by reason of your tender regard for the writing that is your offspring have declared the very opposite of its true effect. If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls. They will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks.


Replies

ofjcihenyesterday at 5:31 PM

I see this copy-pastad everywhere these days but it misses a huge point which is that written things don’t read or understand themselves.

_dwtyesterday at 5:54 PM

"Yes, Socrates, you can easily invent tales of Egypt, or of any other country."