To put this in context [1], Socrates is repeating a story about an Egyptian king responding to an Egyptian god who invented writing. Socrates does mostly agree

To put this in context [1], Socrates is repeating a story about an Egyptian king responding to an Egyptian god who invented writing. Socrates does mostly agree with the king. I disagree with Socrates that wise teachers would only put their thoughts down in writing for amusement, but his general point is that you can't ask books questions and they can't defend themselves, and that they aren't the best way of transferring knowledge from person to person. If you ever read a book critically, or if you appreciate a lecture or a live teacher to understand material instead of a textbook, you agree with him in ways. Also, the entire world has had oral traditions outside of writing for the millennia since Socrates that have only been recently stamped down by radio and TV. [1] http://www.units.miamioh.edu/technologyandhumanities/plato.htm http://www.units.miamioh.edu/technologyandhumanities/plato.h... edit: There was more time between the invention of Egyptian writing (which the Greek alphabet was ultimately derived from) and Socrates than between the death of Socrates and today, so it's not like he didn't understand the use of writing, or thought it was some new-fangled thing.