5000 Years Later, We’re Having the Same Argument

Writing means clear thinking. Every engineer should write. Good companies make sure you write before a meeting so everyone can read, prepare, and have a better discussion.

However, when writing was invented over 5,000 years ago, how was it perceived?

Plato tells a mythological story about this, using his teacher Socrates as the main character. In the story, the god Theuth invents writing and proudly presents it to the Egyptian King Thamus as a gift that will improve human wisdom. However, King Thamus criticizes the invention. He argues that writing would weaken people’s memory, that it would create the appearance of wisdom rather than real knowledge, and that it could even be dangerous. This story is not a historical account but a philosophical myth.

Now fast forward a few thousand years to Artificial Intelligence, and it’s hard not to see the parallels. Whatever was said about writing can, in many ways, also be said about AI. Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity can make us think less: you ask a question, and they give you an answer. They can create the appearance of wisdom rather than real knowledge, and they can also be dangerous.

History repeats itself, and understanding history gives us a lot of context. When I was reading Plato, I couldn’t help but relate his thinking to what is happening today. A lot of the jobs we do today will become irrelevant, education will be disrupted, knowledge is being democratized, and coding jobs may slowly disappear or at least change significantly. However, we will evolve.

This, in many ways, is the nature of the society we live in. It has always been like this. But as humans living in this century, the pace of change is much faster than we imagine.

Thank you for reading.