The Simpler-Better Past

Plato (428-346 BC) criticized the practice of writing (i.e. the written word) as something that would erode one's mental faculties (he called it a recipe for reminder not memory) and depersonalize human interaction, as the need for face-to-face communication would no longer be required to exchange ideas. Although we can all speak to the benefits of the written word, we can also acknowledge that Plato's assertions were still, for the most part, correct. Between Plato's time and our time, there have been many generations, each with its own introduction and adoption of new technologies and practices, with pros and cons relative to both generations past and generations future, and too much complexity and variability in how things will evolve to say for sure what will be beneficial or detrimental. As one generation longs for a simpler-better past, we can be sure that the generation before longed for the same, and we can be sure that, to a varying degree, each generation was partially right and partially wrong. My point is, if Plato's nostalgia for a simpler-better past (i.e. one without the written word) prompted the next generation to forgo the written word, then we would likely not even know who he was or what he thought, as surely as I would not be able to recount it here. The next time you find yourself feeling nostalgic about the past and perplexed by the next generation, you might want to reflect on how you perplexed the generation that preceded yours!