DISQUS

Alistair Croll · 1 year ago

I will give Nick one point - Google shows you where in the text your search is, in 3-4 lines. You may lose important context if you only see those lines without the preceding text, which you'd still get from skimming.

But I think he's wrong for a different reason. On a geological timetable, our species stopped relying on biological evolution as a way of responding to change relatively recently. Instead, we evolve memes and learning, since this can keep up with how fast we change our own environment.

Who's to say that short-term, information-skimming, seven-chats-going-at-once behaviors aren't just another step in that evolution? I suspect that as a species we learn whatever's useful; my grandmother knew the length of the ten longest rivers in the world. I can find the length of the ten thousand. Does that make me better than her? No, just better adapted for the modern world.

So maybe Google is making us collectively smarter.

Similarly, twitch-reflex, information-skimming humans may be just what our global, information-saturated future needs. I don't think Google's making us dumber. Just helping us adapt faster.

VincentClement · 1 year ago

Google neither makes us dumb or smart. Google simply presents us with information. It is up to the individual how they use that information.

I remember going to the library and looking up a book or two via the computer. I would then go over to that section and look for other books on my topic. I would skim those books to determine which would help me. Google makes that a million times faster.

gregory · 1 year ago

that is right vncent, and since the internet provides no context at all we have started to substitute more information for understanding information ......

hence, the news is polls about what people think is the news ..... a sign of sickness in both media and consumers of media ..... think the internet has had any influence there>

mathewi · 1 year ago

I agree, Vincent -- I don't think Google is really doing anything that
different. It's just presenting us with more information, and doing
it faster. And as Alistair suggests, it's up to us to adapt to that.

leigh · 1 year ago

He happens to be correct about changes to the way Gen Y and under consumer information. While certainly i don't believe this is google's fault per say, digital has had (and it would make that it does) a huge impact on many things this being one of them. The way they communicate is different as well, video, photos, text, experiential.

The real issue for me is the quick to judgment that this is all a bad thing. To assume this is making us stupid (or frankly stupider than we already are) is quite the hypothesis based on nothing.

I'm sure when we went from hunching over like apes to standing up right, had Nick Carr been around, he might have been concerned about this too. Only time will tell if this in fact makes us more stupid or alternatively (what i believe in the longer term), far more innovative, creative, and better critical thinkers.

leigh · 1 year ago

sorry it's early haven't had coffee - i meant consume (not consumer) and it would make 'sense' that it does (word missing) :)

Geekwad · 1 year ago

"But for whatever reason, he would rather use his skills to try and defend silly arguments that appear to be contrary just for the sake of being contrary. He’s like a troll that writes really well."

Could not the same be said of almost every newspaper editorial, ever? You get a deadline and six inches of empty space to fill. But yeah, he does seem to spend a lot of effort on it.

mathewi · 1 year ago

That's a fair point, Geekwad -- newspaper editorials are often like
that (and I say that as someone who used to write them). Perhaps Nick
missed his calling :-)

Geekwad · 1 year ago

I enjoyed reading them. I would often be shocked, SHOCKED to find actual understanding and maybe even insight in tech coverage, when most your peers might as well have been opining on the weather a year from now. One of your colleagues in particular never failed to wind me up. Professional trolls!! (Err, no offense once again...)