Socrates’s fear that the development of writing would inhibit man’s ability to memorize information seems absurd today, but not because it isn’t true. The reality is his prediction was more than likely correct. Consider one of Socrates’s points of reference, the famed Greek storyteller Homer. Despite being illiterate (as were most Greeks of that era), Homer is credited with composing and memorizing the entire works of the Iliad and the Odyssey. These works alone would be the equivalent of a modern thousand-page book. Memorizing them would be a seemingly impossible feat today. But in a world
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