The influence of the Net is a highly debatable issue discussed by many scholars. Some consider computer systems to be a handy everyday helper to comply with the pressing amount of information. Some, on the contrary, believe that technologies are destructive and harm the personality. In the article called “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” the author, Nicolas Carr, touches upon the topic of the role of the Internet in mind development and focuses on the Net’s influence on people by analyzing the experience of different scholars. The article’s main idea is that the active growth of the Internet’s popularity causes irreversible negative consequences for the human brain and, consequently, the degradation of the mind.
Throughout the last 20 years, many people face difficulties with reading and concentration. There is a common belief that this process is connected with the Net role in peoples’ lives. Carr supports this idea, and in his article, shares his own experience of witnessing the inability to perform deep, analytical reading and develop mental habits. The author points out that the Internet is to blame for this problem. The typical user is lost in the tremendous amount of information available on the Internet and has no intention to draw attention to a particular issue. As a result, even though the people’s knowledge basis became more comprehensive than earlier, its peculiar feature is shallowness.
Another reason why the Internet has a severe impact on the human brain is that the information format determines the pattern of thought. The author, to support this idea, offers to consider the results of research which shows the denial of readers to analyze extensive articles and choose short ones (Carr). Explaining this process, the author of the article refers to the researcher’s assumptions that forming thoughts depends on the visual representation of information (Carr). Internet data is usually presented in laconic form, which means that the human brain adapts to these specific conditions.
The format of representing the information on the Internet is based on maximum efficiency, an essential part of modern screen-oriented life. Carr emphasizes that last decade people have changed the understanding of themselves. Thus, nowadays, lives are computerized because everyone has a particular schedule, according to which people’s brain, like a computer, synthesizes the order of actions that coincides with the program. Carr also points out that the process of computerizing lives appeared during the Industrial Revolution and sufficiently increased manufacturing efficiency. Since then, the growing tendency of time and effort has led humanity to brain degradation throughout the Internet.
As far as the capacity and productivity of the brain work decrease, the idea of creating artificial intelligence has deeply rooted in the minds of many scientists. Many modern digital systems, for example, Google, have a tremendous amount of data about the users and, they are close enough to create a productive replacement for the peoples’ brains. Thus, Carr provides the Google designers’ remark, according to which the human brain should be considered a computer processor. As is well known, the speed of analyzing information is an essential factor in effectively working a computer which people often lack. Artificial intelligence, in turn, can perform all brain functions perfectly without any setbacks. Therefore, after the force by the Net mind regress follows the threat of replacement by artificial intelligence.
Google and other similar companies, as commercial organizations, pursue particular goals. The author of the article points out that the main aim of processing designers is to get benefits out of users and make their minds as automatized as possible (Carr). Even though the human brain can adapt to the particular format of data and analyze it quite fast, this is still not enough for the economic interests of such companies as Google.
Many outstanding personalities predicted that the pace of life and blusterous information circulation would result in the degradation of the mind. Carr mentions that Greek philosopher Socrates was afraid that even written texts would eliminate the brain’s ability to memorize and analyze information. Philosophers’ concern was not for nothing because many people nowadays have considerably small memory storage and often cannot comprehend different types of information. Carr illustrates that the next step of brain degradation is the availability of books. Thus, logically, the last and most dangerous step is the depreciation of the data, resulting in a decrease in analytical skills.
The author of the article discusses the pernicious influence of the Internet and Google in particular on peoples’ brains. The Internet has become a medium connecting people, making it possible to access any information that turned out to be dangerous and harmful to the brain. To achieve the economic and scientific objectives, process designing companies try to computerize the human brain. Trying to comply with the oppressive amount of information, people risk losing particular mind characteristics like analyzing, focusing, memorizing information, and making assumptions. The convenient and amusing tool to ease peoples’ lives turned out to be a weapon of mass destruction.
Reference
Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Makes Us Stupid?” Genius. 2008. Web.