now i remember: Chuck Palahniuk on Memento and note taking. Chuck retells a story from Plato's Phaedrus:

[The great god-king] Thamus ruled that writing was a "pharmakon." Like the word "drug," it could be used for good or bad. It could cure or poison.

According to Thamus, writing would allow humans to extend their memories and share information. But more importantly, writing would allow humans to rely too much on these external means of recording. Our own memories would wither and fail. Our notes and records would replace our minds.

Worse than that, written information can’t teach, according to Thamus. You can’t question it, and it can’t defend itself when people misunderstand it and misrepresent it. Written communication gives people what Thamus called "the false conceit of knowledge," a fake certainty that they understand something.

Contrary to what you may think, I didn't name this weblog "BrainLog" because I think I'm smart. It was intended as an extension of my brain, a place to put information I've picked up and might want to use later, or work through ideas (my own or those of others) to better understand them. What it has become, of course, is a place I put things I haven't read but intend to read later, and often don't. And those cases and cases of books I own, I've never properly read, but keep in case one day I may need their knowledge-- as if that's good enough.

If my weblog upholds Thamus' first point, I dare say weblogs prove to defeat the second. When webloggers read each other's weblogs, pass along information and opinions, exchange emails and post comments, the writing can be questioned, and can defend itself against misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Information technology such as the web optimizes the written word, inheriting advantages and disadvantages of both oral and written communication. No wonder people are so excited about this personal publishing thing-- and no wonder some are quick to decry its approval.

We must not confuse the thrill of acquiring or distributing information quickly with the more daunting task of converting it into knowledge and wisdom.

-- Technorealism (thanks librarian.net)