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Socrates vs. the Written Word (2011)

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Hacker News | Sep 22, 2026 | spectraldrift

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Socrates lays out an argument that the written word cannot defend itself in dialogue, and thus cannot effectively teach anything worth knowing. Without written records of each communication, any errors that cause accidents down the line couldn’t be tracked to their source. The objection made to the telephone in comparison with the telegraph, that there would be no written record, is answered by Mr.

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