Nicholas Carr is a well-respected writer/blogger. His previous books are The Big Switch and Does IT Matter?
First, I urge any parent of a pre high-school child to read this book (this means you, my daughters!) Prepare your child to defend his or her humanity against the world of electronic media!
While the onrush of computer/net technology is pervasive and probably unstoppable, it is not without hidden dangers. Not the kind most people think of - evil people trying to seduce children and so forth. Carr carefully lays the groundwork for the last chapter of his book, which succinctly summarizes the problem: as we humans get more comfortable and reliant on our information processing tools, our brains get better at interfacing with the machines. Getting better means our brains change to be more adept at dealing with multiple continuous streams of snippets of information, resulting in broader but shallower thinking skills. At the same time, the overloading of our 'working memory' (where our brain stores the most recent thoughts and sensations) crowds out time for contemplation, assimilation, correlation and storing of deeper thinking. And, worse yet, the parts of our mind that make us most distinctively human - compassion, sympathy, morality, appreciation of the state of other persons' emotions - take time to work through their thought processes. The Net's 'intellectual ethic' doesn't permit that time.
The final paragraph of the Epilogue particularly struck me with its dark prediction using an illustration very familiar to me. Carr summarizes the closing scene of the movie 2001 - A Space Odyssey, in which the astronauts shut down the computer HAL's mind. "HAL's outpouring of feeling contrasts with the emotionlessness that characterizes the human figures in the film, who go about their business with an almost robotic efficiency... In the world of 2001, people have become so machinelike that the most human character turns out to be a machine. That's the essence of Kubrick's dark prophecy: as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial (therefore inhuman*) intelligence."
* my insertion. Also, as I remember it, there was only one astronaut left.
Carr references two books which I intend to read:
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan
Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgement to Calculation by Joseph Weizenbaum
2 comments:
One of the regular podcasts I listen to (Slate's "Culture Gabfest" - I recommend it, and actually all of their gabfests - though be warned, there is the occasional swear word) discussed the excerpt of this book that featured in Wired magazine a month or so ago. Although they understood that since they were only reading an excerpt, it was difficult to comment on the entire book, so they didn't try - they did object to the idea that deep thinking isn't possible anymore. I mean, just by reading the book and contemplating it as you did, which you then articulated in your blog post, doesn't that show that although you are constantly interfacing with machines, and have been pretty thoroughly for last 10 years, at least, you can still process complex thought and emotion?
I have been thinking about the increasing polarization of political discourse lately - it does really feel like there is something going on there - and it does seem to have some aspect of individuals' decreasing ability to empathize and sympathize with others, so I buy that the trend that he talks about is there. But I don't know if I would pin that on internet pervasiveness?
Carr did allow that even though the shift toward multitasking and information bites (bytes?) causes a physical change in brain structure, it doesn't mean people can't still read a book or think deeply. It just becomes harder and requires some conscious effort - just as most people have always been able to multitask a certain amount, but for some it takes mental effort. He also seems to say that in order to think linearly and deeply, you have to get away from the stimulus of the Internet, TV, etc.
I agree with you on the lousy state of statesmanship. In spite of every politician's claim, there is no longer any national patriotism. Everything is personal.
Post a Comment