Dr Deviant

As a specialist for most of my life I have been glad of the take up of the Internet with special reference to Google. Technology has exploded over the last couple of decades. In the good old days of DOS 3, it was possibly remember every command, and the syntax, and the consequence of each call. Now, however, even the simplest individual component of ones life is too big to store the complexity in its entirety.

Apparently this has lead to a creepy phenomenon. In the July edition of the Atlantic Nicholas Carr asks “Is Google making us stupid?”

I freely admit to not really enjoying reading at any age, although if I really concentrated I could always enjoy the movie

I have noticed over the years though that things have sped up dramatically and I constantly find myself waiting for information that I am searching for. I had just assumed I was getting old. Maybe Mr Carr is just inventing an excuse for a mid life crisis? I wonder if my missus will let my buy that Ferrari now?

Is the Internet really making us stupid, or, is it actually allowing us to “power browse” as the article suggests, and it is this phenomenon that is actually allowing us to filter out waffle. With the ability to disregard crap it means the writing style must change to a style I was introduced to that allows managers to tune out at their leisure… the headline approach: Summary and conclusion first, then discussion. With the ability to assimilate large quantities of conclusion with backup workings, would this not inevitably make us more intelligent?

The ability to immerse yourself in a book is something that was once learned or a natural process that got unlearnt, then a bit of concentration and ongoing practice will get this back. The brain will adapt to which ever you use, and would learn to adapt to both being able to switch easlily, surely this is a good thing?