Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Baxter Assignment #1

The focus on this essay was mostly based on the effect of memory in the information age. The author started off talking about his brother and about how he had trouble remembering information but he could remember faces and people. The essay has five chapters but the last one isn't about memory its about forgetting.In the first chapter Tom was the main focus. He is Baxter's brother and he was the one with the memory problems. This is Baxter's way of using a personal experience to relay the message of memory and why its important to use experience.
In the second chapter he examines and talks about data vs experience. He explains why data doesn't hold that much weight because its only data. Baxter sounds worried of the people in the information age because of Walter Benjamin's' theory that people have a lot of information but not a lot of experience.The last part is about forgetting and how it is necessary. Baxter stated that there should be no shame in forgetting because forgetting is necessary.
I believe that the essay teaches that experience is well appreciated and needed more than just data because experience is more valuable and hands on then just knowing data. Therefore by forgetting data its not necessarily a bad thing because forgetting is good also.

4 comments:

  1. cool picture, I think you have seized the point.

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  2. That is true, forgetting isn't always bad, to some people forgetting is something that has to be done in order for someone to continue living their life.

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  3. Everyone forgets, and people seem to be so hard on themself when they forget, i think because of all the fact information that we can easily obtain through tech. devices... and the high competition of knowledge in today's society cause us to be hard on ourselves.... we are only human

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  4. Hi Lonnie,

    I think it's really interesting how you say that "The last part is about forgetting and how it is necessary. Baxter stated that there should be no shame in forgetting because forgetting is necessary." Now that I look back on that part of the essay I see more how he was saying that and how I could have focused a little more on that in my own essay. Of course forgetting some things must be necessary.

    I'm not sure that he's saying that data doesn't hold any weight, though. Instead I think that he is saying that data is only valuable if it is paired with experience.

    -Ariel

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