Willy goes on a meditation via a Lil B track about how the internet is ruining us. In summary: the ability to look something up is replacing our will to actually know things. We simply rely on our ability to reference information. Personally I’m not so concerned. This is an ancient anxiety repackaged for the 21st century. In Plato’s Phaedrus dialogue, Socrates complains about writing. His complaint comes in the form of telling a myth the Egyptians had about how writing was introduced by the god Theuth to a Pharaoh. The god tells the Pharaoh that this gift will increase the knowledge of his kingdom. The Pharaoh rejects this gift however, explaining that people will begin to forget what they have learned, that because the written word belongs to a dead author, the person reading will not be able to reason and debate with the person who has left the words. The consequence of this is that people will appear to know things, but in fact it will be empty wisdom.

Like all of Plato’s dialogues however, there is an irony here. Two, in fact. For one, Plato was no doubt aware of the irony that he was transmitting this dialogue by way of writing. Furthermore, Socrates rebuttal to writing comes in the form of telling a myth, that is, the story of a dead man, rather than by his typical dialectic method. He thereby mimics the form and structure of writing that he is critiquing.

That being said, there probably are some real losses involved in all of this. We are losing oral histories all the time. Wikipedia, rather than being some sort of triumph of human knowledge, is more like a collective bet about what any given topic is about. The ability to locate amazing music is easier than ever, but the activity of playing music, and forming communities around that activity, isn’t necessarily better off because of it.

Still, I’d say on balance things are pretty good.