Nicholas Carr challenges the idea that the internet has changed the way our brain works and how information is being absorbed. Ideas of focus being diminished after using the net and its instant information to fill our brains is becoming toxic. Carr describes how he used to love getting lost in a book but after using the net and its way of minimizing information to its most rich form, he lost interest in spending so much time on long text. The internet provides a instant relay of information versus the long process it took before there was access to the internet. Having access to just about anything and everything at the touch of your fingertips has made many people smarter and that alone makes it even more addicting. Karp, a well educated man believed that “ reading lots of short, linked snippets online is a more efficient way to expand his mind than reading “250-page books’’’. To get all the information out of a long text you must thoroughly read through it to not miss anything important, but a document online can be summarized then simply scanned through and be just as successful, if not more.
In the Rise of the Centaurs Clive Thompson explores the ways that technology has affected day to day life and the way that people interact with technology. The main question being asked was “Which is smarter at chess-humans or computers?”. The idea that technology is smarter than humans or vice versa can be applied to many situations and ultimately the outcome is that both working together will provide the best results. A computer system does not think like a human and “has no intuition at all”, whereas humans will make the best decision they are aware of, simply because humans can not contain as much information as a computer system can. People make mistakes in their calculations and a computer is designed to avoid mistakes and provide certainty. Ultimately if you have the ability to collaborate with a computer and be aware of your personal thought process you can be successful. For example “ Because Cramton and Stephen were expert at collaborating with computers. They knew when to rely on human smarts and when to rely on the machine’s advise.”. This allowed them to beat some of the best chess players even though they were amateurs with little experience in chess.
The idea that technology is forming our future is most definitely true and can be seen in so many day to day activities. Simply contacting a friend has changed extremely from writing a letter to direct instant communication via facetime video calling. Attaining the newest technology is a constant urge with today’s society and in ways makes humans less intelligent. Putting so much trust in technology changes the way you think and even how you perceive yourself, news, and facts of life. A personal opinion is less valuable when you can find so much information to refute it so easily. Living in such a simple world with the growth of technology always excelling, traditional activities such as letter writing and searching through a textbook, have become foreign. Using technology as a tool and still trusting your own instincts can be the difference in learning and full reliance.
