Amnesia. When something becomes unready-to-hand for the first time, it becomes newly available for decoupled thought, and in particular, memory. When we ourselves become unready-to-hand, we’re presented with the possibility of knowing what we are. Different kinds of things are more or less available for understanding (sensibility, memory, significance, use) to gather around them. Whenever we try and fail to understand something, we have a choice what to do with toeholds left over from our aborted forays: have them dissolve, or have them continue to gather understanding. For example: “I can’t figure out how to fix the table because it involves measurements and arithmetic, and I’m bad at math so it would be a waste to try to learn fixing tables” vs. “I don’t know how to fix the table, so I’ll stop trying now, and I’ll seize chances I get to practice easier arithmetic” (not necessarily as explicit thoughts of course). Since toeholds strengthen each other, dissolution of toeholds amplifies dissolution of toeholds. Since what we are is “big” relative to our understanding, when what we are is unready-to-hand, the default attractor is dissolution of understanding (reset-and-forget). Big, deep, external events are not noticed, and if they are they are not tracked in any detail, and if they are they aren’t understood, and if they are they aren’t remembered. (Whereas events that are well-understood, even if trivial, are easily remembered.) Cf. Samo Burja’s work (remembering the collapse of civilization) and Nietzsche (remembering the death of God). Hitler, for example, is impossible to forget and also as yet impossible to remember. Yak-shaving and poetry could help. Rejecting “unfounded” abstraction is anti-helpful. Saying the same thing about the same thing is more helpful than it seems.
Amnesia. When something becomes unready-to-hand for the first time, it becomes newly available for decoupled thought, and in particular, memory. When we ourselves become unready-to-hand, we’re presented with the possibility of knowing what we are. Different kinds of things are more or less available for understanding (sensibility, memory, significance, use) to gather around them. Whenever we try and fail to understand something, we have a choice what to do with toeholds left over from our aborted forays: have them dissolve, or have them continue to gather understanding. For example: “I can’t figure out how to fix the table because it involves measurements and arithmetic, and I’m bad at math so it would be a waste to try to learn fixing tables” vs. “I don’t know how to fix the table, so I’ll stop trying now, and I’ll seize chances I get to practice easier arithmetic” (not necessarily as explicit thoughts of course). Since toeholds strengthen each other, dissolution of toeholds amplifies dissolution of toeholds. Since what we are is “big” relative to our understanding, when what we are is unready-to-hand, the default attractor is dissolution of understanding (reset-and-forget). Big, deep, external events are not noticed, and if they are they are not tracked in any detail, and if they are they aren’t understood, and if they are they aren’t remembered. (Whereas events that are well-understood, even if trivial, are easily remembered.) Cf. Samo Burja’s work (remembering the collapse of civilization) and Nietzsche (remembering the death of God). Hitler, for example, is impossible to forget and also as yet impossible to remember. Yak-shaving and poetry could help. Rejecting “unfounded” abstraction is anti-helpful. Saying the same thing about the same thing is more helpful than it seems.