Thoth: Writing will make people wiser and improve their memories.

Thamus: O most ingenious Thoth, the inventor is not always the best judge of his creation's worth. And in this instance what you say isn't true. Your invention will cause forgetfulness in learners because they will no longer cultivate their memories; they will rely on writing rather than remember themselves. Your discovery fosters reminiscence, not memory. Your disciples will hear many things and learn nothing; they will seem omniscient, but know nothing; with a mere semblance of wisdom they will make tiresome company. And answers will be the same always, without any concern for circumstance or audience.

--- Plato's Phaedrus

So Thoth, Ibis-headed God of writing, was rebuked.


Interestingly, I did not scribble this evening when, after too long, I saw Andrew, Huijun and Huimei again. Perhaps I'm trying to cultivate my memory once more :)

Holland Village is full of barricades now. Horrible.

Andrew, in his shirt with many buttons unbuttoned, waltzed right past me at the beginning.

So much has changed, yet the more things change, the more things stay the same. That is exactly the kind of statement that sounds profound but can be uttered vacuously, with little thought :) But it's true anyhow.

Since I was the only NS guy there, (thankfully) very little servitude-related stuff was discussed.

At the end, we took a slow walk to Andrew's house. So slow, in fact that by the time we got there, it was almost time to go.