Post by robcaudill on Aug 9, 2011 12:31:13 GMT -5
Google does not make us stupid. Google makes us lazy. There is a difference. Stupidity is not when a person chooses to research a subject online in a manner that takes less than a minute, over researching a subject by book in a manner that takes hours. Saving tremendous amounts of time and still getting the same result is very smart, and maybe a little lazy.
Nicholas Carr states, “Immersing myself in a book or lengthy article used to be easy… That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.” The fact that Carr would blame Google, and the Internet for his lack of concentration when he reads is outrageous. Everyone’s mind wanders when they read. Maybe his mind is wandering more because he realized that there are other great things that he could be doing with his time rather than reading all day. Google has not “changed the way people think.” Google, and the rest of the Internet, have allowed us to research subjects, and read articles more quickly and efficiently. Carr cannot really believe that Google has brought our intelligence down. In fact, Carr gives no evidence or statistics that Google is bringing the nation’s intelligence down.
Carr also states that he no longer reads articles in depth, but in fact just skims over them. Carr states, “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” I don’t understand how getting the same information quicker than we used to is not considered a magnificent thing. Why does it matter to Carr that he can no longer read books for hours on end when he can get the same information in just a few minutes? He should be praising Google and the rest of the Internet for opening up many more opportunities!
Carr closes his article in saying, “…as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.” We do not rely on computers for our understanding of the world. We rely on computers for information, facts, and statistics. Also, the computers do not post online essays and websites on their own. Humans post on computers to relay their ideas. Humans use computers as a faster way of getting their ideas out to the rest of the world, and to express themselves. Our intelligence is not flattened into artificial intelligence, but it is boosted due to artificial intelligence. Getting more information at a quicker pace is a smart and intelligent idea. Spending hours and hours in a book in which you don’t even find the information you were looking for in the first place? That’s stupidity if you ask me.
Nicholas Carr states, “Immersing myself in a book or lengthy article used to be easy… That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.” The fact that Carr would blame Google, and the Internet for his lack of concentration when he reads is outrageous. Everyone’s mind wanders when they read. Maybe his mind is wandering more because he realized that there are other great things that he could be doing with his time rather than reading all day. Google has not “changed the way people think.” Google, and the rest of the Internet, have allowed us to research subjects, and read articles more quickly and efficiently. Carr cannot really believe that Google has brought our intelligence down. In fact, Carr gives no evidence or statistics that Google is bringing the nation’s intelligence down.
Carr also states that he no longer reads articles in depth, but in fact just skims over them. Carr states, “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.” I don’t understand how getting the same information quicker than we used to is not considered a magnificent thing. Why does it matter to Carr that he can no longer read books for hours on end when he can get the same information in just a few minutes? He should be praising Google and the rest of the Internet for opening up many more opportunities!
Carr closes his article in saying, “…as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.” We do not rely on computers for our understanding of the world. We rely on computers for information, facts, and statistics. Also, the computers do not post online essays and websites on their own. Humans post on computers to relay their ideas. Humans use computers as a faster way of getting their ideas out to the rest of the world, and to express themselves. Our intelligence is not flattened into artificial intelligence, but it is boosted due to artificial intelligence. Getting more information at a quicker pace is a smart and intelligent idea. Spending hours and hours in a book in which you don’t even find the information you were looking for in the first place? That’s stupidity if you ask me.