Is Google Making us Stupid? a 2008 article in Atlantic Magazine, author Nicholas Carr examines the impact of the internet on our brains
Carr relates his experiences related to concentration and attention in a world dominated by instant access to information. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the human brain is changing to adapt to the medium of the internet. Focusing on long drawn out arguments and reading complex texts is more difficult event for accomplished readers and writers.
Carr argues that throughout history changes in information media have changed the information we transmit. Carr sites neuro-scientific research that the human mind is more “plastic” or malleable than once thought. Historical changes in media and the concept of plasticity lead Carr to be concerned about the future of the human race. How will humans behave in a world of neurological prosthetics?
Carr tempers his skepticism with a story from Plato’s Phaedrus that details Socrates opinion on the advent of the written word as a medium for communication. Clearly Socrates concerns have been unfounded. Critics throughout history raise warning flags about the consequences of changes in media on the human race, most have not been alarming as imagined. Carr upholds his skepticism by describing a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Oddysey when an artificially intelligent machine feels pain as it is disassembled.
While Carr’s analysis is thoughtful and detailed, I am left feeling that the article was just a sensational piece written to inspire disdain from the literary audience of the Atlantic towards the educational technology field.
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