Which is really cool in a sci-fi kind of way.
Until the computer crashes or somehow loses or deletes our electronic memory, leaving us with a brain memory so flabby that without our digital photos to send a message from our robust optic nerve to our cerebellum we can't recall what our dear old mom looks like.
So I guess the current dilemma is, now that nobody's memorizing phone numbers or addresses or multiplication tables or state capitals or names of presidents or what the people they know and the places they've been look like anymore, how do we keep our memory skills sharp?
Here's my suggestion: everybody take piano lessons.
Which sounds funny coming from me, not because I'm a piano teacher, but because whenever a parent tells me that it's been proven that taking piano lessons ups a child's math skills, I respond that I can't guarantee any outcome from piano lessons other than that, if the student practices well and follows my instructions, the student will become a good pianist.
Bit of a snarky response on my part, I know, but I'll admit that I'm ever-so-slightly bugged by the inference that the music itself is not important enough a reason to take music lessons unless it's linked to a more utilitarian end, such as improved math skills.
But in light of this latest discovery I'm now wondering if perhaps piano lessons should not be widely promoted for the welfare of internet memory-dwindled humanity.
Because taking piano lessons involves beaucoup memorization.
References
"Internet Erases Our Need To Memorize", Andrea Peterson, The Washington Post, The Columbus Dispatch, July 6, 2015