Architectures of Memory

The complex architectures of the new “memory palaces”, from libraries, archives and museums to the IT structures, databases and server farms that feed the flow of data on the network. The transitional situation that we are experiencing, which brings together a book culture with a culture of the screen, is gradually shifting us from a graphic reason to a computational one. In the same way that writing has made it possible to generate a particular mode of thought, where lists, tables and formulas have played a primordial role in the modeling of knowledge. With digital technology, other systems of knowledge are being invented, shaping of information and it’s transmission. Indeed, the development of the network, of a vast cyberspace, induces a particular rationality based on calculation rather than writing, which is the only way to make it intelligible. It is therefore understandable that memory architectures, in their contemporary, essentially digital, actualization are at the heart of a transformation of the human mind. It is still too early to determine exactly what is going on with this transformation, but it is important now to trace the contours of this situation and to explore trails that may mark out some of its most salient aspects.