Saturday, February 26, 2011

Before There Was Blogging

There was memorization:
Today we have books, photographs, computers and an entire superstructure of external devices to help us store our memories outside our brains, but it wasn’t so long ago that culture depended on individual memories. A trained memory was not just a handy tool but also a fundamental facet of any worldly mind. It was considered a form of character-building, a way of developing the cardinal virtue of prudence and, by extension, ethics. Only through memorizing, the thinking went, could ideas be incorporated into your psyche and their values absorbed.

2 comments:

  1. I found that article very interesting as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've come to understand my blog as an idea journal. By typing it up (or often blockquoting it), I remember it better.

    Plus I'm super jealous of that guy's memory.

    ReplyDelete

You are the reason why I do not write privately. I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or not.