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In defence of newspapers and serendipity
Scot is correct- book reading is only a means to dilute the mind when there is no net access.
However, mans best friend is h/er books.. books cannot die, even though society changes, books will remain the foundation of learning- schools will still use books .. else it impossible to teach. Or maybe the world will change so much that humanity will forget how to write?
think about it ..a blank book is a blank book , unit the kid scribbles in it.. after that is becomes part of a time vault :)-
Yes, but *you* are not doing the connecting: you are following links that others have predetermined, either directly (by creating links) or indirectly (by writing algorithms which create links or results from your searches).
"when I read something that triggers a thought or idea, or a desire for more information, I can’t just click it and do a Google search."
And in what way is doing a Google search, or following a link which someone has created, thinking for yourself? What Scott is describing isn't thought, which involves actually thinking arguments and ideas through for yourself, but research, which is a much more simple process. Not having the ability to click through and find out what others have already thought forces me to interpret something for myself, to have my own ideas about the meaning and significance of something which may be entirely original. Allowing me to constantly click through into someone else's ideas about what something means stifles my own creativity.
is valuable as well, but when I follow links it isn't just the
specific information that I come across that has an effect -- it's all
the thinking I'm doing about the connections between that information
and other ideas, which leads me to follow other links, etc. You're
right in that it is more like research, and eventually that research
has to be assimilated and thought about -- but it's still very
valuable, I think.
But Scott's post isn't titled "networked research" or "networked study" - it's about the evolution from linear thought to "networked thought". The thing is, there is no "thought" here until you start thinking about the information you're collating. And when you start doing the thinking, you're doing it in exactly the same way that humans have always done it - linearly, one idea after the other, in an inner narrative.
And, of course, you can see that in what you do next: you construct a blog post about it. A good old linear narrative. Which we discuss linearly, via the medium of a textual discussion - just as we would do face to face. There is no "networked thought" here: just networks of people, doing thinking, and discussing ideas in a way which doesn't have to be followed linearly in order to make sense.
I guess, at the end of the day, I just think that the term "networked thought" is too sloppy: it's the discourse that's networked, not the thinking.
that none of these things happen in isolation. But I still think
Scott has put his finger on something interesting.
Other than your imagination and possibly your soul.....(and of course your neural network too just in case you rolled your eyes at the soul comment)
Time to but your networked ADD aside M and go home and read a book. :)
or at the cottage -- anywhere there's no Internet access :-)
I certainly feel it -- something of a sense of loss, maybe? -- and have had many conversations with colleagues where we talk about growing up sitting over a print newspaper over breakfast and days filled with consuming books.
Personally I've been rejuvenated of late because of my purchase of the Amazon Kindle. It's a revelation to be able to sneak a few pages of a book in here or there while on the go. There are certainly some imperfect aspects to this new product, but overall I'm overjoyed as it has allowed me to bring book reading back into the course of my day-to-day life.
Kindle, so it's hard to know how (or if) it would affect my views on
books, etc.