Bratton cites Socrates on writing: history rhymes in today's AI panic
bratton · x · 2026-09-16
Reacting to a claim that intellectual life is over unless we pause AI, Benjamin Bratton quotes Plato's Phaedrus, where Socrates warns that writing will produce forgetfulness, offering "the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom." Bratton's point: today's AI alarmism structurally repeats ancient anxieties about new media — a classic counterpoint in debates over AI's impact on thinking.
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