Sam's online data stream
a firehose of links, photos, and status updates
Class of 2011 at Yale University, seeker of wisdom, cares about animals and the environment, making the world a better place.
For longer-form writing, find me at www.samjackson.org
TwitterFacebookTumblrThamus and Theuth
“At the Egyptian city of Naucratis, there was a famous old god, whose name was Theuth ... he was the inventor of many arts … but his great discovery was the use of letters. To [King Thamus] came Theuth and showed his inventions, desiring that the other Egyptians might be allowed to have the benefit of them; he went through them, and Thamus enquired about their several uses, and praised some of them and censured others, as he approved or disapproved of them. ... when they came to letters, this, said Theuth, will make the Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; for this is the cure of forgetfulness and of folly. Thamus replied: O most ingenious Theuth, he who has the gift of invention is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance a paternal love of your own child has led you to say what is not the fact; for this invention of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. You have found a specific, not for memory but for reminiscence, and you give your disciples only the pretence of wisdom; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome, having the reputation of knowledge without the reality.”
