We usually assume that whatever we choose to do is a personal choice, but in reality, it is often the tools we use that direct our thoughts and behavior. Consider, for example, the clock. Life without clocks is difficult to imagine, but for thousands of years, most societies had no need to use the precise time of day to direct their activities. Standardization of time only began to spread after a decree that monks pray at specific times each day.
As society shifted from fields to factories, the clock’s preeminence in society was evidenced by massive clock towers, and it’s ubiquity in the form of personal watches. Clocks determined the beginning and end of work, lunch breaks, and market. Working, playing, and shopping all became a function of time. Humanity’s minds had been reshaped to revolve around precisely measurable time.
As new technology rose to replace the oral tradition, controversy followed. In fact, Plato wrote about his teacher Socrates’ concern for the manner in which writing crippled the ability to memorize. Socrates feared that students would be deceived that they were gaining knowledge from the written word, when they were really only obtaining data. The ultimate result, he argued, was that knowledge would be relegated to the printed page, rather than being internalized and having the opportunity to build our character and shape our worldview. Writing did have an impact on collective human memory, but without it, science, history, philosophy, art comprehension, and language uniformity wouldn’t be as well-developed as they are now. learning
*Note: all technologies have pros and cons. even in the same domain..**
Knowledge internalised for the individual vs remembered by the collective