It is hard to say yet what will become of the internet and how it will affect us in the future. Will we become the machine-like people Carr envisions us in the future, or will the near endless abundance of knowlege that can be found by "surfing the web?" I have mixed feelings about which I believe will be the end result of our technological "advancements" in a computerized world, but while this brings to life some realistic consequences, there are some criticisms that can be made about this essay.
The first, and most obvious criticism that could be said about Carr's essay is that it is itself an article that has been spread through the use of the internet. While it may seem silly to be so critical of him trying to reach his words out to more people by using the internet, this makes him somewhat of a hypocrit and weakens the power of his essay, and it may have been more effective to me personally had it been origionally published in a newspaper or magazine.
Another criticism that can be made toward his on a mechanical mindset that the humans will develop as a result of this. He makes the reference to manufacturers making their workers into a near robotic staff of efficiency by systemizing their jobs to best fit a profitable result. However while this action might seem problematic, it has allowed for, in many cases, scientific developement through effieciency.
While these criticisms can easily be made, there are some things Carr brings up that he should be applauded for in this essay. First and foremost is his questioning our idolization for efficiency. He notes our need to be quick, but he questions this efficiency and his well used sources to help refute the idea that the efficiency we have come to admire is really thorough. While we are able to find what we want quicker by using search engines to find snipets of information, we lose sight of the whole that comes from these sources of information. He mentions skimming through blogs and articles longer that a few paragraphs. What details does our mind skip by this skimming, and what will we miss in our search to get things done quicker.
The other thing that works toward his side in this essay is his openness to the thoughts of people who may disagree with him. He does not impose upon his reader that they should listen intently to what he says because he is right without a reasonable doubt, because he realizes that very well might not be, but he cautions us to think about how we use the internet and if it could lead us into a type of thought that lessens our intellegence and ability to think creatively.
While writing this blog kind of demeans the effectiveness of his essay toward me, I did enjoy the the thought provoking questions that were aroused in my head as a result of reading this essay and I hope I consider what I use to read on the internet in the future.
The thing that I liked most about this essay is exactly what you brought up: he refutes his own argument and admits that there might not be anything wrong with widespread use of the internet. The first five pages admittedly got me a bit worried and unnerved. His facts just seemed too reasonable and plausible to ignore. However, Plato's and Squarciafico's arguments against writing and the printing press seemed just as plausible as I read them, and those arguments turned out to be shortsighted and wrong. This dispelled most of the dread for the future of humanity I had developed (ok, I was really that worried in the first place), but Carr also did a good job of rekindling some of it with the drama of the last few paragraphs. Overall I thought it was a solid article.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem hypocritical for Carr to use the internet to criticize the internet. I also agree that systematic factory work has allowed for scientific advancement, and thus his analogy serves to refute his point. We are, however, missing valuable information by skimming articles.
ReplyDeleteHa! I didn't even think about how this essay came from the internet. You made an interesting point about how important efficiency is to us. I have mixed feelings about technology in general. While it makes life a lot easier, it also has a lot of bad side effects. The internet is one of those things, obviously. Cars are also one of those things. We can get places a lot faster, but it is bad for the environment. The thing with technology is that once it's developed, it's hard to get rid of it. Now that we have things like computers, we're never going to go without them again. It's a bit weird how obsessed people are with advancement. I guess I think advancement is a good thing, but the costs should be considered as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this essay had its flaws but it brought out a great point. what will are minds consist of in the future. I found the whole part of the technology implanted in our head to be slightly scarey. Will the whole world be computers in the future? I certainly hope not. This essay reminds me of my essay that I found about Robo-Docs, where the author discussed the possibility of having robots make medical diagnoses in the future. What an eerie thought if you think about it. Hopefully people of the future will still be the most dominate creatures.
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