Posted on 08/16/2016 4:05:14 PM PDT by JimSEA
That is an interesting, and frustrating, point. It is easier to type than to write by hand - even at my puny typing speed - but the information seems to bypass the memory function in the typing process.I have long regarded handwriting recognition software with contempt because keyboarding is faster than writing. But, maybe there is a difference in memory acquisition which nullifies that advantage. Another question is, would the memory work as well dictating to the computer as it does when writing? Writing is the same as typing, except you have to draw the characters. Dictation bypasses characters altogether, and is far more natural than writing or keyboarding. One would have to assume that it therefore would be less of a memory peg even than typing is. I guess.
I call total BS on that.
A well educated adult American Satisfying all the suggestions of the famous book, Cultural Literacy, will run circles over the internet jockey, without panic when the power and battery go out.
Well, that's what happens when the "test dummies" are all ignorant to begin with.
A working, healthy Human memory is practically instantaneous.
Getting a link and asking the question electronically is "stone age" by comparison.
I get proof of that every day!
Bump!!
You don’t have to know everything. You just have to know where to find it
That was Einstein's answer to arcane physics and math questions : "That's what reference books are for..."
That’s great, I love it.
Anyway, I have a good memory, and memory is certainly faster than the internet. I read a lot as a kid, and my parents never answered a question, they told me to go look it up.
So in addition to reading constantly, I’d check out 4 or 5 boos at a time, I spent hours and hours digging through the card catalog at the local or school library looking for references.
I still remember a lot of it, and it’s almost instant. I hated school so I educated myself to at least 4 to 6 year college level, and still look up whatever I want to when it catches my interest.
But I have noticed I never bother to memorize phone numbers any more, they’re all programmed into the address book of my cell phone. Press a key, it’s there. So I can see why a lot of people would commit less and less info to memory, it’s right there online, easy to get if needed.
I’ll probably keep learning the rest of my life, it’s a habit I don’t think I’ll ever break. Or try to. I just started looking up how to make a bow string for example, never even thought about it before until I looked up prices for a string to fit the crossbow I just nabbed at a yard sale. I’m betting that’ll lead to learning how to make a bow too...won’t be the first time I’ve done something like that...
Allows research cheap and fast if one has a knack for asking the right questions. Have to have a well rounded general knowledge of a subject, or spend the time obtaining a working knowledge of your interest, to guide sifting through the web. Ninety percent of technical information postings on the net are drivel.
Sadly, the youngest of the generation doesn’t seem to have sufficient grasp of basics combined with mental discipline to make effective use of the possibilities beyond social media interactions.
An early Murray Leinster short story predicting the brain-rot the internet would engender.
My accuracy in spelling is better writing cursive than typing, verbal spelling ability fitting between the two. Believe the differences lie within the mental processing path taken for the task. Gaining cursive skills entwined with vocabulary/spelling exercises in the same time frame are a reasonable explanation.
Do you suppose a transliteration from text, or verbal input into cursive, would be indecipherable to the bulk of the population under 35? The humor concerning use of cursive road signage, preventing navigation from the inner city to the suburbs, comes up in this context.
Navajo “code talkers” could be an excellent model for verbal obfuscation, just as “jive” lingo served as a intratribal communication skill.
Appears someone anticipated this issue already! Copied/pasted the cursive generated at the website, into the reply box and numerical strings appeared. The unicode involved makes for a difficult preview, being numerical. The preview displayed the proper cursive interpretation.
The postings numerical string component was dropped on Google search, which instantly recognized the numerical string, and output the cursive text equivalent. Do we assign blame for unicode to Samuel Morse in this instance?
http://lingojam.com/CursiveTextGenerator
The more you know the more inter-relationships your brain can find between data points. How are you going to connect the dots between stuff you didn’t remember because... well it will always be out there on the net if I need to know it. Data doesn’t become knowledge until your brain has time to chew on it for a while. Kinda like a cow and her cud.
Not memory, but the exercise of recall.
It seems likely. What is certain is that my cursive handwriting would be indecipherable, not just to the bulk of the population, but to me as well. I was in a panic in my freshman year of college, when I realized that my lecture notes were useless.I had to resort to lettering - printing - to escape disaster. My signature is legible, but that’s about it. I had a boss once who would give me a detailed instruction, and write notes for me as he did it - but each word of his note would be the first letter, followed by a squiggle. Worse even than my own cursive, let alone my printing.
You’ve got one thing that is essential for effective Internet use and tha is a firm grasp of the basics which presupposes asking the right questions. Of critical importance is your grasp of basics within a field, the lack of which can lead to nonsense and/ or conspiracy theories.
“O most expert Theuth, one man can give birth to the elements of an art, but only another can judge how they can benefit or harm those who will use them. And now, since you are the father of writing, your affection for it has made you describe its effects as the opposite of what they really are. In fact, it will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using their memory because they will put their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the inside, completely on their own. You have not discovered a potion for remembering, but for reminding; you provide your students with the appearance of wisdom, not with its reality. Your invention will enable them to hear many things without being properly taught, and they will imagine that they have come to know much while for the most part they will know nothing. And they will be difficult to get along with, since they will merely appear to be wise instead of really being so.”
Plato. c.399-347 BCE. “Phaedrus.” Pp. 551-552 in Compete Works, edited by J. M. Cooper. Indianapolis IN: Hackett.
[Writing] it will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it:
Following Plato’s recommendations (rules) would make our conversation rather brief as I doubt your quote is pulled from memory alone. ;-).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.