[HN Gopher] Socrates on the Forgetfulness That Comes with Writing
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       Socrates on the Forgetfulness That Comes with Writing
        
       Author : indy
       Score  : 34 points
       Date   : 2022-11-23 21:27 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (newlearningonline.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (newlearningonline.com)
        
       | svnt wrote:
       | Socrates seems here he is mostly expressing the frustration that
       | he cannot entrain a book into his methods, and that their authors
       | cannot keep pace with him in dialogue.
       | 
       | But that was never the point of writing. The point is to use some
       | small fraction of sensory+cognitive function to give yourself
       | access to a separable, durable, redundant, and location-
       | independent form of information.
       | 
       | Not touched on here but in other recent books is the possible
       | loss of sensory+cognitive function that comes with simply
       | learning to read and write in the first place. It's possible this
       | is the origin of the myth of Odin sacrificing an eye to read the
       | runes.
        
       | Archelaos wrote:
       | When interpreting this passages one must not forget that the
       | whole dialog is itself presented in writing. One example of the
       | famous Socratic irony (which is ironically Platonic irony).
        
       | xchip wrote:
       | Thanks Plato for taking the minutes of Socrates meetings.
        
       | CyanBird wrote:
       | What a good day is to read Socrates
       | 
       | Thanks for sharing
        
       | beefhead wrote:
       | I like Thamus' argument against the intrinsic value of writing --
       | shallow reminding, rather than remembering, comprises the vast
       | majority of internet dialogue.
       | 
       | "You have not discovered a potion for remembering, but for
       | reminding; you provide your students with the appearance of
       | wisdom, not with its reality. Your invention will enable them to
       | hear many things without being properly taught, and they will
       | imagine that they have come to know much while for the most part
       | they will know nothing. And they will be difficult to get along
       | with, since they will merely appear to be wise instead of really
       | being so."
        
       | nehal3m wrote:
       | Hah, you can't make this stuff up.
       | 
       | 6. Socrates on the Forgetfulness That Comes with Writing
       | (newlearningonline.com) 33 points by indy 1 hour ago | hide | 5
       | comments
       | 
       | 7. Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
       | (stackoverflow.blog) 329 points by TangerineDream 7 hours ago |
       | hide | 189 comments
        
       | robg wrote:
       | Don't we read Plato's writings of what Socrates said?
        
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       (page generated 2022-11-23 23:00 UTC)