> books are pointless. recently some1 commented on this matter at past
> films and i couldnt agree more. it seems bookworms are miserable turds
> and turn to writing books as revenge on the world, which is why so
> many books, like so many mooees are miserable nothingness crapfests.
> book burning has been stygmatised as something akin to nazis or
> christians with beatles records n shit, but there's a huge case to be
> made about the goodness that such a scenario would entail. we should
> destroy that facile rhetoric piece of crap that books are inherently
> good. just like aldous huxley fucked up with the lsd crap, bookworms
> fuck up again and again. the written word is a pile of wank and is
> revenge of the writer on the reader, plenty of times a way of
> displacing one's own depression on others, which is why miserable
> bitches like george eliot should not be taught at schools. im being
> serious and pointful. whitman and freud wank about consciousness but
> that's not consciousness, it's just nessnessness.
...Nevertheless, by the fifth century B.C, books existed in
considerable numbers in Greece. If we believe Socrates, education has
been on a downward spiral ever since. According to Plato, Socrates
caught one of his students (Phaedrus) pretending to recite a speech
from memory that in fact he had learned from a written version.
Socrates then told Phaedrus the story of how the god Theuth offered
the King of Egypt the gift of writing, which would be a 'recipe for
both memory and wisdom'. The king was not impressed. According to the
king,
"it [writing] will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will
cease to exercise memory because they will rely on what is written,
creating memory not from within themselves, but by means of external
symbols. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for
reminding. And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but
only its semblance [virtual wisdom?], for by telling them many things
without teaching them anything, you will make them seem to know much,
while for the most part they will know nothing. And as men filled not
with wisdom but the conceit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their
fellow men." --Phaedrus, 274c-275
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus
This passage illustrates several key points about educational
technology that are just as relevant today as they were in the time of
Socrates and Plato. For instance, there is discussion as we write this
about issuing medical students with PDAs (personal digital assistants,
e.g. Palm Pilots) while on the wards, so that they can look up drug
treatments as they need to. They are using technology to remind
themselves, rather than using memory. Does this though make them less
effective doctors?
http://www.batesandpoole.ubc.ca/chapter-3.html
BEFORE the printed book, Memory ruled daily life and the occult
learning, and fully deserved the name later applied to printing, the
"art preservative of all arts" (Ars artium omnium conservatrix). The
Memory of individuals and of communities carried knowledge through
time and space. For millennia personal Memory reigned over
entertainment and information, over the perpetuation and perfection of
crafts, the practice of commerce, the conduct of professions. By
Memory and in Memory the fruits of education were garnered, preserved,
and stored. Memory was an awesome faculty which everyone had to
cultivate, in ways and for reasons we have long since forgotten. In
these last five hundred years we see only pitiful relics of the empire
and the power of Memory.
The ancient Greeks gave mythic form to this fact that ruled their
lives. The Goddess of Memory (Mnemosyne) was a Titan, daughter of
Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth), and mother of all the nine Muses. In
legend these were Epic Poetry (Calliope), History (Clio), Flute
playing (Euterpe), Tragedy (Melpomene), Dancing (Terpischore), the
Lyre (Erato), Sacred Song (Polyhymnia), Astronomy (Urania), and Comedy
(Thalia). When the nine daughters of King Pierus challenged them in
song, the King's daughters were punished by being changed into
magpies, who could only sound monotonous repetition.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.philosophy/msg/b56691437f9c825e
The Lost Arts of Memory
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679743758/
Naw, raaaaaaaarrrrrr, on the other hand, the book is and has been the
greatest vitual reality device from the mid-1500s till now, even with
the computer/internet which diminishes the experience, as movies and
other multi media do. Think of black letters on a white page. Thats
it, and we end up creating faces, personalities, geography etc... all
from within our memories and ideas. TV and movies provide everything
we have to create with literature vr devices. Socrates might change
his position here and say read, don'r be a spectator!
