Socrates, Plato And……The Internet?
Socrates and Plato were pretty smart – as we already know –but this blows me away and you may have the same reaction.
So I saw this quote in a book by Bill Manley called The Oldest Book in the World. The book is about the teachings of someone called Ptahhatp, who may have been the first true philosopher. He lived in ancient Egypt and his writings have somehow been preserved. I thank Mr.Manley for drawing my attention to this quote:
“Socrates: They say that Thumos told Thoth many things—which would take too long to go through—praising or criticizing each technology. When they reached letters, Thoth said ‘King, this is the discovery that will make Egyptians wiser and improve their memories.I have discovered the drug for thinking and wisdom.’
However, he [King] said ‘IngeniousThoth, one person should invent technologies, then another assess whether they are helpful or harmful to their users. Now, you, father of letters—your favoritism has made you describe the effects of them as the opposite of what they are. Actually, this discovery will make the minds of those who learn it careless and not practice thinking for themselves precisely because they put their trust in writing—which comes from outside and the opinions of others—rather than reflecting within themselves and by themselves.
You have not found a drug for thinking but for quoting. You have provided your students with the appearance of wisdom, not the real thing, because they will have read lots without learning, and they will feel educated when essentially they are ignorant. They will also be tough to put up with because they will end up smug rather than wise.” (emphasis my own)
— PHAEDRUS, sections 274-5, Plato, c. 360 BC
I maintain that if this quote doesn’t create an epiphany for you, then you need to reread it. 2000 years ago Socrates/Plato point out the flaws in the creation of human knowledge that are even more relevant today.
If you follow the thinking, writing stuff down was the first flaw in original thinking – then over time the printing press – then (skipping some stuff I am sure) the internet – and now finally AI. Indeed, Socrates/Plato describe our world today better than I ever could:
“You have not found a drug for thinking but for quoting. You have provided your students with the appearance of wisdom, not the real thing, because they will have read lots without learning, and they will feel educated when essentially they are ignorant. They will also be tough to put up with because they will end up smug rather than wise.” (emphasis my own)
Even the snipe about smugness at the end seems to wrap the description of society today up in a bow.
So where does this all take us?
In essence, philosophy is dedicated to thinking about things with as much originality as possible, i.e. looking at whatever everyone is looking at but seeing something different. So a true philosopher would resist being a quoting machine.
On the other hand it seems obvious that Socrates and Plato are – somewhat – overstating things by decrying written words, since that is how we pass down knowledge and build on it.
Yet the trick – the goal – the plan – should be to be able to build on past learnings without just becoming a ‘quoting’ mouthpiece that merely spouts the words – and thoughts – of others.
…
Like it or not, where the human race is going is to a contradiction, where there are innumerable data points leading us to the absence of thought – i.e. quoting — but at the same time we need more than ever to push our thoughts to a place where what we think provides what is necessary for successful outcomes – i.e. thinking.
The Bruce Philosophical Project
