Nicholas Carr. Source: N.C. Bibliography
Nicholas G. Carr is a well-established influential writer. He began his career as the editor of the Harvard Business Review while he was studying for his M.A. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University. Previous to his studies at Harvard he obtained a B.A. from Dartmouth College. Carr has written several books, including The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains and The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google (2008) and Does IT Matter?. His main focus is on technology, culture, and economics.
His article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, addresses the impact technology has on the human brain. Carr explains that information pathways in the brain can be reshaped and altered according to repeated behaviors. He recalls the ease in reading long complex books before computers existed and notes the change he has experienced since then. Carr argues that Google’s ability to rapidly provide information leads to a decrease in analytical thinking and a decreased ability to remain focused for long periods of time.
The style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace.
Carr goes on to argue that the sources we use “shape the process of thought” and “the Net seems to be chipping away [his] capacity for concentration and contemplation”. This statement is supported by Friedrich Nietzsche when he stated, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts”. This finding is similar to that of Jakob Nielsen when he discovered that people only read the first 11 characters of a link; the increased accessibility to information decreases our ability to think critically. Although we know more information, he believes that we are actually less intelligent because we are not encouraged to critically think through our sources. Our minds are “spread thin like pancakes”, we know a lot of things, but not in depth. In addition, the massive quantity of knowledge floods our brains and makes it more difficult to think.
Google Logo. Source: Science Week
One of the founders of Google, Sergey Brin, stated that, “certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off”. Carr disagrees with Brin because if you have too much information, your capacity to critically think will be overloaded. Despite his perspective on the negative impact Google is having on the mind, Carr makes sure to leave a warning for others to take his criticisms with a grain of salt. Although he may be spot on in the decreased capacity for critical thinking and comprehension in humans, he cautions that there may be many benefits that we cannot yet see.
I agree with Carr—I think that Brin is completely incorrect in his assumption. When analyzing his statement it is important to define what it means to be “better off”. I assume that Brin means that one would be able to live life more fully, complete more tasks, and become more successful and secure. These all link to attributes the common American has when they think about living a successful life; however, I think it is important to realize that one of the main sources of unhappiness comes from being overworked and overstimulated. In order to live enjoyable lives humans must have time to relax, reflect, and be in a state of quiet. Although knowledge is undoubtedly important to live a happy and successful life, complete knowledge of the world would take away some of the joy and wonder that comes from not knowing. Imagine how boring life would be if we knew everything.
Food for thought: “The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas.”