Half-Human, Half-Computer

The advancement of technology has taken away from what makes us human. We no longer think on our own, but instead, put our trust in a machine built to give back answers. In “Hal and Me,” Carr explains the effect technology has on the brain. He feels as if something has been “tinkering” with his brain and is altering his ability to focus. The Internet has transformed society’s ability to think on their own. Slowly, we are becoming less and less patient. When the computer glitches we soon become angry because it is not giving back information fast enough. The word “outlier” stuck out to me in “Hal and Me.” Although Carr uses it as a way to describe how he felt after not being about to read without distraction, I think that those who can still focus on reading an actual book are the true outliers. It has become taxing to read an entire book. Students would rather look up and summary on Shmoop and just lose points on whatever was not included in that online excerpt. We as a society rely heavily on technology. We now have the Amazon Alexa who answers any question we have on command. Instead of opening a dictionary and looking up a word we can simply say “Alexa what does [word] mean.” When we can’t find something on the Internet it instantly becomes too much work. We’d rather pay the consequences then put in the extra time and effort of finding the information ourselves. “The Rise of Centaurs” describes humans playing chess against computers. Instead of socializing and playing games with real humans, we choose to sit behind a screen and challenge an automated program. Carr mentions the convenience of googling rather than walking to the library and physically reading a book. However, humans remain to be extremely intellectual despite technology’s gift of shortcuts. The reading from Thompson shows that human brainpower and the power of technology are unstoppable. The title includes the word “centaur,” meaning half-man and half-horse. Society today, including Carr in his story, should be considered half-man and half-computer. It is inevitable that our brains will soon transform into machine-like objects. Thompson uses the word “fight” to describe the constant struggle between humans and computers. We try to hide that our motivation to succeed is slowly drifting away but unfortunately computers will take away the need for us to use what we have learned in school and in life. Both readings highlight the importance of speed. In “Rise of the Centaurs,” the “fight” between computers and people was how fast each could make a move. Our minds don’t seem to work as fast as our computers. This is why we take the easy way out and use the computers as a break for our minds. We would rather use this high-speed machine then burden ourselves by thinking. Carr ends the reading by saying “I missed by old brain” (Carr 16). As technology takes over our lives completely we will all start to miss our “old” brain and all the creativity it promised.