The fable of Thoth and Thamus
QWQ (Thoth)
Story of Thamus judging new forms of technology
“a critical exegesis”
by J. Siry
Thamus’ Judgment story from Plato’s Phaedrus, a dialogue from 360 BCE.
Fit for “ A people such as ourselves, who are inclined to be tools of our tools....”
Postman, TECHNOPOLY, p. 3.
2 players | judgment | warnings | contrasting methods | rules of the game | design | questions | Summary
1. Thamus was great king (Pharaoh) of a city in Upper Egypt (south or up the Nile River Valley)
"Now in those days the god Thamus was the king of the whole country of Egypt;"
2. Theuth is the God Theuth has various names– Thoth, Hermes, [GREEK] or Mercury [Roman], the bearer of the messages from the gods.
"At the Egyptian city of Naucratis, there was a famous old god, whose name was Theuth;"
Thoth in Egypt inventor of language and numbers. AKA Hermes.
In Alchemical tradition he is Hermestrismagistus, [Hermes thrice magical].
Origins of numbers & calculations, geometry & astronomy, and writing
“they (his inventions) should be made widely known and available to Egyptians.”
p. 3.
"To him came Theuth and showed his inventions, desiring that the other Egyptians might be allowed to have the benefit of them; he enumerated them, and Thamus enquired about their several uses, and praised some of them and censured others, as he approved or disapproved of them. It would take a long time to repeat all that Thamus said to Theuth in praise or blame of the various arts."
“Thamus inquired into the use of each of them (Thoth’s inventions) and expressed approval or disapproval…”
p. 3-4.
Thoth declared of writing “Here is an accomplishment… which will improve
both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians.”
p. 4.
Thoth claims to have:
“ a sure receipt (recipe) for” Wisdom and memory
Thamus says “…Thoth my paragon of inventors. The discoverer of an art is not
the best judge of the good or harm that will accrue to those who practice it.
So it is in this, you… have attributed to it quite the opposite of its
real function:
“Those who acquire it (writing) cease to exercise their memory and become
forgetful.”
2 players | judgment | warnings | contrasting methods | rules of the game | design | questions | Summary
How memory, real memory differs from recall"
recall by “external signals” is distinguished from remembrance as
an exercise of memory
Thamus “you have discovered…a receipt for recollection, not for memory.”
“Your pupils will have the reputation for it (wisdom) without the reality”
Recipe for recollection not for memory [ explicit dialectical relationship is
established]
Recall versus remembrances
without proper instruction
Knowledgeable when quite ignorant
“Filled with the Conceit of Wisdom they will be a burden
to society”
Thamus’ error – writing is only a burden
“We may learn from this that it is a mistake to suppose that any technological
innovation has a one-sided effect.”
Every technological is both a burden (price) and a blessing (opportunity)
p. 4.
Thamus’ Judgment Interpreting the dialogue: Postman on Plato’s Phaedrus
p. 4-5.
“not either or, but this-and-that”
“They gaze upon technology as a lover does his beloved, seeing it…without blemish”
2 players | judgment | warnings | contrasting methods | rules of the game | design | questions | Summary
“For every culture must negotiate with technology”
“Thamusian skepticism” is another name for a Technophobes’ heightened aversion to technical solutions to human problems. That is techno-phobia,
means fear of technology.
“A bargain is struck in which technology giveth and technology taketh away.”
p. 5.
Freud – child’s voice – phones – trains and distance
– comment on childhood,
Civilization and its Discontents – a sober reappraisal of urbanity at the
end of the 19th century
pp. 5-6.
Freud knew full well that technical and scientific advances are not to be taken lightly. . . . he ends by reminding us of what they have undone:"
p. 6.
Childbearing is called “labor” and infant mortality is the death of a child before one year has passed after its delivery.
Freud apparently agrees with Thoreau,
“Our inventions are but improved means to an unimproved end!"
p. 6
“There is a calculus of technological change that requires a measure of EVEN-HANDEDNESS”
p. 7.
The uses of technology are largely determined by the structures of the technology itself
Any tool’s functions follow its form: (design imposes a sort of rigor on our behavior)
2 players | judgment | warnings | contrasting methods | rules of the game | design | questions | Summary
1. once a technology => tool or => technique is admitted
“it plays out its hand…it does what it was designed to do.”
(Siry)
Our task…To understand what that design is…what we are asked to do
by design…and how that design embodies our deeper values so as to give
meaning to our endeavors.
2 players | judgment | warnings | contrasting methods | rules of the game | design | questions | Summary
1. The tool is designed to __________________.
2. The tools are used by people to __________ organizing themselves into ____________.
3. Some or all of the tools that we use give _________________ to our lives forcing us to judge their value:
2 players | judgment | warnings | contrasting methods | rules of the game | design | questions | Summary
We read this story and its interpretation by Neil Postman, the author, who says that Plato's dialogue is important enough to start his book with the fable of Thoth and Thamus. He reasons that the Phaedrus –the title of Plato's dialogue– retains for us today a lesson in how to assess how the changes in past technologies, have ab influence on technology today. Technology is so pervasive that the tools we use to do something can alter how we work, what we think and ways we express our own personal lives.
2 players | judgment | warnings | contrasting methods | rules of the game | design | questions | Summary
