If we truly remember what must be remembered, then why does one need to be reminded to remember? Joshua Foer makes a logical comparison of the elderly ways once used to retain information and the ideas used today. In his article, The End of Remembering, Foer gives examples of how writing and devices to outsource information “have helped make our modern world possible, but have also changed the way we think and how we use our brains”. (160) The metaphor, “memory palace” used by Foer, as well as Simonides, is rather very well suitable. The term, although not created by Foer himself, reaches a great sense that our brains must ponder to understand.
When one reads or looks at a certain picture, text, or even a song, it becomes committed to memory.…show more content… The situation the word is used refers more to the building or place of comfort/well-being. Our mentality of acknowledging that we have a “database” of everything ever written, recorded, snapped and so on, gives us a feeling of paltry. It is as if now, in this time, it is insignificant and one can access it at any time and place. Socrates says, “It would be singularly simple-minded to believe that written words can do anything more than remind one of what one already knows” (161). He is saying that as a student, parent, or whatever position we are to sustain, we are just as well off to remember what we should do, as well as to write it…show more content… We never retain the need to use our memory, which “sometimes seems like we have forgotten how” (TED Talk).
We as a society have lost almost all contacts with the reality of what we learn. We learn things to remember them, however, we cannot learn if we do not remember. Can we change the world around us and be the generation to conquer our minds, and also conquer what we as a human race are capable of? The actions necessary to take are very possible, but very unlikely. If what we are to be doing is easy, then we will do it.
Joshua Foer has fascinated many with his article and his conversations. The principle of our mind becoming a “palace” of memories is an idea so magnificent that it is hardly ever used anymore. The way we have accumulated from “intense” reading where we want to retain all that we can, rather than now. The more books I read, the smarter I get. Our phones remind us of “important” events, but if they were that important, would we not remember? The memory palace has been with us through all of creation. It has morphed from a mental state, to a device, or a room with books. All the words written down, all the hard hours used to slay over a book, they are not for nothing. As you go throughout your day and look at your phone, think to yourself. If you could truly last a week and remember all the events scheduled, would you remember what you needed