Socrates wrote nothing, he believed writing and reading to be inferior to listening and dialogue. Are listening and dialogue the best way to learn and teach your kids? Let’s explore.

Let’s not forget, writing is a technology invented by humans to transmit knowledge longitudinally across time dimensions to future generations. No other animal species does that, it is our competitive advantage.

Why did Socrates consider writing to be evil?

“The painter’s products stand before us as though they were alive. But if you question them, they maintain a most majestic silence. It is the same with written words. They seem to talk to you as though they were intelligent, but if you ask them anything about what they say from a desire to be instructed they go on telling just the same thing forever”

“Everyone will trust the external written characters. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality”

Is that true?

Remarkably, Socrates could see the future 2500 years ago, we do tend to believe the written word without questioning. History is written by winners, we accept it to be the truth.

Personally speaking, my mom was raised in a generation that believed in newspapers and genuinely accepted any official written word to be true until recently.

We had to educate her that not everything that gets forwarded on WhatsApp is true. “WhatsApp University” is the phrase that has gained a popular meme status in India, it routinely calls out the graduates of Whatsapp University for spreading misinformation

My generation is not immune either, my mom routinely will suggest home remedies for common ailments, usually some sort of concoction of turmeric, ginger, black pepper, honey, garlic, and a variety of Indian herbs. It usually works but we will not accept without challenge.

My mom retorted, “ You will not believe me but will accept whatever is in Google, I am going to pay someone to add my remedies to Google". She is right, I suppose we are graduates of “Google University”.

The Verdict

Socrates has a valid case. However, I do not want to reinvent the wheel and relearn the lessons of my ancestors but not without questioning.

How can I get the best of both worlds?

We need new technology, imagine listening to an audiobook on a tablet with the ability to question and have a dialogue as a method of Socratic inquiry. We are not far off, let’s name it “Socrates”.

The irony of having an argument against writing in a written text is not lost. I am having fun #blogging.

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