The passage discusses how technology both aids and hinders memory and learning. It references an ancient story from Plato's Phaedrus where King Thamus warns that the new invention of writing will make people rely less on their memory and more on external records. The passage argues this story remains relevant today as it is easy to collect and store vast amounts of information but not necessarily learn or retain it. It also describes an experiment where a man recorded every detail of his life to see what constant total recollection would be like. In the end, the passage notes this debate around technology's impact on human thought is as old as these stories yet still ongoing.

1. Perhaps you have heard this famous
story from Plato’s Phaedrus: The Egyptian
god Theuth brings his new invention—
writing—to King Thamus. The king
responds, “This discovery of yours will
create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls,
because they will not use their memories;
they will trust to the external written
characters. (Your disciples) will have
learned nothing; they will appear to be
omniscient and will generally know
nothing.”
I think of this story often, because it is
so relevant to contemporary daily life.
How many times a day do I collect,
download, store, backup, copy, forward
MemoryisCheap
Later date that never seems to come? It is so easy, fast and
inexpensive to have access to whatever I want to know, that I
often succumb to the frenzy of acquiring information, instead of
actually learning something.
by Wendy Richmond
This dilemma is an ancient one, and we ask the same question anew with every decade: Do these tools
strengthen or weaken our powers of thought and understanding? Is technology an aid or a hindrance to our ability
to be creative, insightful human beings? The debate gets more interesting when you consider it in the context of your
own work and life. For example, replace the general questions above with more specific questions in the realm of
photography: Do the tools of digital photography strengthen or weaken our ability to produce creative, insightful,
meaningful images?
or file a piece of information, intending
to retrieve and peruse it at some later
date that never seems to come? It is so
easy, fast and inexpensive to have access
to whatever I want to know, that I often
succumb to the frenzy of acquiring
information, instead of actually learning
something.
Twelve years ago I wrote a column
called “The Disappearing Present.” I was
concerned about the preservation of
computer-based design, because, back in
1995, a lot of effort was required to store,
translate (and re-translate) material onto
evolving hardware. I worried that
recordings of work would be lost, but I
was wrong; the opposite has occurred.
We are making sure that data are
eternally accessible on multiple devices
and/or networks. Backups are automatic
and memory is cheap. So cheap, in fact,
that we are practicing indiscriminate
storage. In other words: we simply store
everything.
An extreme but prophetic example is
the work of computer scientist Gordon
Bell, who has embarked on a mission of
recording every moment of his life. In an
article in Fast Company, Clive Thompson
writes: “For the past seven years, Bell has
been conducting an audacious
experiment in ‘lifelogging’—creating a
near-total digital record of his experience.
His custom-designed software,
‘MyLifeBits,’ saves everything it can get its
hands on. For every piece of e-mail he
sends and receives, every document he
types, every chat session he engages in,
every Web page he surfs, a copy is
scooped up and stashed away.”
Later in his article Thompson asks,
“So what will life be like when nothing is
forgotten? Provocative as that question
may be, it’s hardly theoretical....the power
of machines to create boundless
memory—and to augment and even
transform human thinking—is only going
to become more pronounced.” (“A Head
for Detail” by Clive Thompson,
FastCompany.com)
Both stories—Phaedrus from around
370 BC and “A Head for Detail” from
November 2006—are referring to the
ways in which we record and document,
and how we use (or abuse) that near-
infinite capacity to conduct our present-
day lives. In the view of King Thamus, the
“technology” of writing inhibits our ability
to think, to discern. But, in direct
opposition, Gordon Bell says, “Using
computers to remember will free our
minds for more creative thinking.”
This dilemma is an ancient one, and
we ask the same question anew with