a tool to aid forgetfulness

Signed-off-by: Xe Iaso <me@christine.website>

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+---
+title: A Tool to Aid Forgetfulness
+date: 2022-01-12
+series: stories
+---
+
+The Egyptian God Thoth lived in the Egyptian city of Naucratis. Thoth was the
+inventor of many arts such as math and astronomy, but the most significant was
+the invention of writing. Thoth showed writing to the king of Egypt, claiming
+that it would make Egyptians wiser and give them better memories; that it it
+would vastly improve both the memory and the wit of the Egyptian people.
+
+The king replied: "Thoth, you invented this tool. As such you are not the best
+one to judge such things. You have not created a tool to aid memory, you have
+created a tool to aid forgetfulness. Learners will not use their memories, they
+will blindly trust these sigils and not remember for themselves.
+
+"You have discovered an aid to vague recollection, as the users of this tool
+will not be given truth. They will only be given a semblance of truth.
+
+"They will be hearers of many things and learners of nothing. They will appear
+to know all the knowledge of the world yet when asked they will only be the
+middleman to external forces that are trusted without verification. They will
+know wisdom, but not truth."
+
+Adapted from The Dialogues of Plato in Five Volumes, 3rd ed. Oxford
+University, 1892. Vol. 1 pp. 483-489.