Thoughts on Opinions

This post is part of Agora Road's September 2024 Travelogue.

Have you ever heard someone opposing the concept of writing? I sure never did. According to the history books however, Socrates believed that writing weakened memory.

This part of the Phaedrus is sometimes used as proof that people generally hate new inventions and complain about younger generation. While an interesting observation, I think it also reveals an interesting question.

Are our opinions merely just a reflection of our past?

For most people, writing (and by extension reading) is a noble activity, especially if it involves physical objects. The concept of "writing is actually bad" seems funny, but have we actually even studied the question?

A quick internet search reveals that some people do research the links between memory and writing. That being, the question being asked seems to be "is note-taking an efficient way to retain knowledge" rather than trying to find out if there are negative effects.

This naturally leads into the "Do we have free will?" question. I personally believe that our opinions are the sum of our previous experiences and that we are for all intent and purpose fleshy automatons. I believe this because I never questioned the concept of books before seeing someone mentions Socrates's dialogue. Even if I do have free will, how could I even begin to evaluate the concept of writing objectively when it is so deeply entrenched?

This is why my opinions do not matter, and why I disregard everyone else's. The future is merely a reflection of the past. The only reason why I write articles now is that it is a "low effort" way to make art and calm my mind. Nothing more, nothing less.

Written by manpaint on 16 September 2024.