Then I read Walter Ong’s Orality and Literacy, a book about the impact of the written word on oral cultures; while some of the stronger claims in the book have come under question, I still found it eye-opening. It suggested to me that there might be a parallel to be drawn between the last time a technology changed our cognition and the next time.

Intellectually we are aware that our memories are fallible, but rarely do we have to confront it. What would it do to us to have a truly accurate memory?

The difference is that the heat energy we radiate is a high-entropy form of energy, meaning it’s disordered. The chemical energy we absorb is a low-entropy form of energy, meaning it’s ordered. In effect, we are consuming order and generating disorder; we live by increasing the disorder of the universe. It’s only because the universe started in a

Edgar Allan Poe had used the phrase “the imp of the perverse” to describe the temptation to do the wrong thing simply because you could, and for many people the imp had become more persuasive.

Some people experienced identity crises, feeling that their sense of self was undermined by the countless parallel versions of themselves.

“We like the idea that there’s always someone responsible for any given event, because that helps us make sense of the world. We like that so much that sometimes we blame ourselves, just so that there’s someone to blame. But not everything is under our control, or even anyone’s control.”

Every branch was of paramount importance to its inhabitants; no one was willing to act as a guinea pig for anyone else.

pretense,

The afternoon began with one of her most demanding clients, a man who asked her to make all his decisions for him, whined when she wouldn’t, and blamed her whenever he eventually did take an action.