My first day in oral traditions...

and i am looking forward to what is to come! I was particularly intrigued by the use of a synagogue to memorize the names of the nine muses? I'm looking forward to finding out how this is done...
Page 79 Orality and Literacy. Its fascinating to think that the same objections were cited originally about the printing press that we ponder in regard to the computer culture we live in today. I think we have to admit that the immediacy of technology undoubtedely "enfeebles the mind, relieving it of too much work" (ong p. 80). Reading Ong's words makes me consider this truth even more deeply and i wonder, how many wise men have been lost or never realized because they were never challenged to exercise their minds to question information beyond what some technological device could quickly and easily provide for them.
Yet Ong goes on to say in the same chapter that, while it is difficult for us to think of writing as a technology akin to printing and computers, it is actually the most drastic of all three, having "initiated what print and computers only continue" (p 82). But even after reading this whole chapter, and all of the differences Ong cites between orality and writing that puts them on completely different wavelengths, I still cannot equate writing with computers in my mind. While the process of writing I think demands high mental involvement from the writer, i think computers really do weaken our minds, demanding much less of us. I wonder how much our minds must be capable of that we aren't even aware of because we constantly default to technology to avoid overthinking: there's no need to memorize the times tables any more because every device we own - cell phones, ipods, computers- are all equipped with calculators that do it faster. To think that at one time people were objecting to the printing press and the publishing of books for fear that it would do just that- weaken our minds. And now we live in an age where people don't even have the patience to read. I just wonder if the human race is still capable of the memory feats our ancestors could perform, or if collectively our minds have deteriorated over the ages. I guess we will find that out in this class.