Blog 1
“Hal and Me” gives the reader the ides that technology changes the way we see things. The narrator used to love reading, but reading on the computer is not the same as reading the books. A quote that really stood out to me was, “once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski.” The moment I read that, I felt the exact same way. When I read, I do not have the patience to go and read the entire thing and really understand the material. I end up skipping most of it and only understanding some of the key ideas. Later in the story, the narrator is saying that the more he used the computer, the more it influenced him. The final line even states how he misses the way he used to think and technology has created a need for shortcuts in his mind. I think the biggest takeaway from this story is that the more technology advances, the more attached we get and the less we think about any deeper meanings.
“Rise of the Centaurs” makes it obvious on how computers are much faster thinkers than humans. Computers can calculate every possible move in a game of chess to create the best way to win. When pairing a computer and a human to play a game of chess, the human seems to be in charge. They can refer to the computer for advice, but the computer is in the hands of the human. When given this option too much, a human will begin to lose their will to think because the computer can do it for them. This gives the technology more control over the human. The more availability the human has to the computer, the more unpredictable it could be. The machine could give you an absurd response to a game of chess, but the human will assume it is what is best for the game even if it is an obvious bad move.
Both stories are connected by the human’s attachment to technology. Carr is stating that attachment to technology causes irreversible shortcuts to the individual. Thompson says that attachment causes the individual to have little to no free will during critical thinking. While reading, I realized that I will do this almost every time. I always skim the reading assignments until I realize that I need to take notes and understand the material. If I have any question or doubt, I go straight to my computer. The narrators of these stories give you the idea that they had a life before a need for technology. I think if our generation had that time in our lives, we would not have such a huge attachment. Once technology advances even more, the future generations will be even more attached than we are.
