wrote:

> > From: johnhewitt22{at}yahoo.com (johnhewitt22{at}yahoo.com)
> > Would it not be true that social knowledge is analog data - since it
> > is stored in the brain, which seems to be an analog device. Hence,
> > the evolution of social knowledge
> 
> Yes, it would *not* be true (for longterm storage). Generally longterm
> social memory is achieved by putting the idea into words. That's why
> famous sayings such as those of Aesop and Franklin are popular, as well
> as Biblical commandments and other popular passages, and nursery
> rhymes. Usually a person remembers such a famous saying, then needs to
> figure out again what it means because the analog memory had faded
> since the saying was last used. Sometimes somebody can remember the
> exact words of the saying but not figure out what it really means.
> In some cases different people remember the exact same words but argue
> about their meaning, such as whether the prohibition against killing
> applies to unborn fetuses.

It is also worth reading Francis Yates' masterpiece _The Art of Memory_,
which documents the ars memoria used by people who did not rely upon the
written words, and the special techniques that had to be used
(incidentally explaining why Homeric poets could recall such long
epics).
-- 
John S Wilkins PhD - www.wilkins.id.au
  a little emptier, a little spent
  as always by that quiver in the self,
  subjugated, yes, and obedient.  -- Seamus Heaney
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