Post by phoebeross on Jul 31, 2011 11:05:58 GMT -5
Since I am someone who finds google and the world wide web just as intimidating as the library, when I first read the title of, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, I was inclined to disagree. After all, surfing a seemingly infinite number of sources for an unkown variable of words is daunting at the thought, compared to the comfort of a book. However, when reading the essay, I found the words struck true. “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread... The deep reading that used to come naturally now feels like a struggle.” Carr’s words reflected my own experience exactly. Though I can still pour over Shakespeare and Tolstoy, I have trouble reading books of the same length I have never perused before. While my mind can still process for meaning with ease, I have difficulty maintaining that focus. Even the story of Friedrich Nietzsche rang true to my personal experiences. I find my style not only varies from computer to paper, but from pencil to pen. Carr explores multiple nuances of influence and finds, “The human brain is almost infinitely malleable.” But, the negative connotation of the essay was worrisome and scary. However, when reflected upon, this was the part my own brain soon whisked away. Our brains, as master creators of the technology which molds them, should grow with the technology, without being replaced by it. Wether we’d be more efficient or not with artificial intelligence is not a factor in its creation. Our brains our needed to guide our creations which have not withstood nature’s laws yet. The thought of being replaced by technology is unsettling, but unrealistic. What is the point for humans of a more efficient world if humans are not her to literally enjoy it? I do not see danger in the change of medium, despite how new technology may mold our brains. If humans adapt to these new mediums, then the thought process will change with the new, and unless we lose the tool, then our brains will just continue to develop. And even without I believe we would be fine, because, as Carr said, “the human brain is infinitely malleable.” While Carr’s arguments are eloquent and articulated, this is where his impact falls flat. The human brain’s interaction with google is a change, but wether google and the rest of the internet’s nuances are for better or worse is not decided yet. Like all developments of the past, writing, television, and the typewriter, the internet will mold our lives, and change it. However, like writing, television, and the typewrite, there is no sign of drastic side affects. And this uncertainty Carr even acknowledges in his essay, “Just as there’s a tendency to glorify technological progress, there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine.” Socrates himself was a critic of writing, however, we seem to be doing just fine with writing, and there is still innovation, as google is here to prove.