Smarter Than You Think Summary

The debate over the internet's influence on human minds has been long running. Nicholas Carr's "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" article successfully defends both opinions on this issue. He has plenty of history on the topic and has seen much success in previous works. Carr uses his past to impact the present issue society is challenged with every day. With his background on the subject, Carr is able to establish credibility as a speaker before he reasons for both sides of the debate successfully.

Technology nowadays always use to have so much information at our fingertips, but is this a good thing? That is what Jamais Cascio’s “Get Smarter” and Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stoopid?” both discuss; they specifically address the effects that new technology, such as the internet, has on the way humans think. The difference is that Carr argues that this new technology is making us stupid while Cascio argues that it is making us smarter. Nicholas Carr’s article discusses the negative effects of the internet and technology like it. It specifically mentions slight changes in the way people do things because of the influence of technology and gives many historical and anecdotal examples. Jamais Cascio’s article is about the advancements of technology and how it is makes people smarter. Cascio talks about Twitter, mental enhancement drugs and AIs, focusing a lot on the benefits of the advancements.

Every so often there is an improvement in technology. 1“History also shows that we generally improve and refine tools to make them better.” As technology progresses the human mind has to improve, in order to continually

In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he shows us how and why technology is changing people’s brain and the way they think. Carr establishes credibility by giving examples from professors knowledge. He uses different maxims such as quantity and relevance to show is points. With each of these maxims he paints a good picture about the struggles of how technology is making people become less capable of retaining information. He even goes on to describe how the neurons can rewire themselves to have a different function. Each of his examples go on to further prove that google is in fact making us stupid.

In his Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr contends that the overload of information is “chipping away his capacity for concentration and contemplation”(315). He admits with easy accessibility of information online, the process of research has became much simpler(Carr 315). Yet such benefit comes with a cost. Our brains are “rewired” as the cost of such convenience(Carr 316). As the result, “we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s...but it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking”(Carr 317). Carr argues the forming of such habits can prevent us from deep reading and thinking. In fact, he provides may evidences in the

As I read the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicolas Carr, I cannot help but see the influence of how internet use can affect your thinking ability and create a negative effect on how think. We can use the internet for all sorts of resources in our daily lives but, the problem is that nobody puts the work in anymore and is finding the fastest way to get the “A,” while not grasping the concept resulting in them not being knowledgeable in their field of work. By them just skimming instead of understanding, they are not fully learning. For example, many of us can look at something and not remember what it was that we looked at the following day. This paper will be discussing the pros and cons of Nicolas Carr’s thoughts on Google, and how the search engine turned GPS, email, and so on is affecting the brains of today.

Nicholas Carr, the author of the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” illustrates various ways that the internet is negatively affecting our brains. He explains how people are growing dependent on technology every day, and he claims that the internet is a resource that can be used for anything, including reading and learning. According to Carr, the internet distracts people from the real world and it is a waste of time. He writes that the media is a shortcut to information and it is making people get used to having information quickly and conveniently. The author states that Google and the internet are trying to replace our brains with an artificial brain that can be faster in some contexts. Moreover, Carr’s article sparked debate for others to research the topic, thus creating an ongoing debate whether we are weakening our brain when it comes to internet searches. Overall, Google and the internet in general are, for the most part, helpful with the information they offer, the communication they make possible, and the virtually limitless technology they provide.

In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” Nicholas Carr explains how the Internet is somewhat removing the way humans tend to concentrate on certain things. He also explains how people think differently then they usually would because of how the Internet may cause them to view things. Even though the Internet may help in a variety of ways, it does influence the way humans may think and learn as a process together. Carr’s argument is effective because he shows the affect the Internet has on humans in ways such as, not being able to read lengthy articles and books, the use of a type writer, and the lack of his own creditability within the article.

With every passing year, it seems as though humans are becoming more attached to their electronic devices as technology advances at an astounding rate. As a result of this, many people believe that the trade off for having such advanced technology is a decrease in overall brain function, a point that is essentially what Nicholas Carr is arguing is true in his essay Is Google Making Us Stupid?. However, a majority of Carr’s argument lies in the fact that people do not read as much because of the Internet, only want information directly given to them instead of having to read through pages of words, and are becoming dangerously reliant on artificial intelligence. However, based on the recent surge of technological

Clive Thompson’s “Smarter Than You Think” reflects upon the idea that technology is her to help us more than we think, rather than the popular belief that technology is ruining the way we think. Thompson believes that the pair between human and technology is making us smarter. Along with that, our minds are slowly adapting to the use of technology, advancing our thinking. Lastly, the relationship between technology and human, has brought humanity closer than ever with the ability to communicate with anyone, anywhere, at any time. Clive Thomason believes the stronger the bond between humans and technology, the smarter we can become; I also alongside with Thompson believe this is true, and if so us as humans need to embrace the use of

The Deep Blue supercomputer was such a dreadful thing to the chess grand master, Garry Kasparov. He predicted that one day someone or something will come to defeat him. Kasparov was facing a machine that read billion of moves; rather, it was predicting the next move or solving a new one. Later, it was pronounce that even a chess grand master can be beaten. Kasparov was not completely surprise by his lost against Deep Blue, but he was astonished. Chess player seized many

First, Carr supports his argument by citing professional psychologists, and even uses a study done by universities to prove his point. Carr references leading psychologist Patricia Greenfield and neuroscientist Michael Merzenich to explain

Even though Internet is the new way of communication and also helps one to keep in touch with the loved ones even when they are miles apart; technology is slowly changing us. We used to use our intelligence before for things and now we are depending on the internet and technology. In the article, “Is Google making us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr talks about what the internet is doing to our brains. He explains, that internet is taking over our intelligence, and taking over our thinking ability. Carr talks about his own experience of how he used to read a long, length article very easily and now since everything is online, he is having difficulties concentrating in article because he is forced to use a technology. “Immersing myself in a book or a

What effect does modern digital technology have on individuals who rely on it heavily in their everyday lives? Innovations such as video games, internet search engines, and online databases receive great praise as well as great criticism depending on who answers this question. Nicholas Carr and Steven Johnson have both written pieces stating their opinions on technology’s effect on the human brain. Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” explains how accessing information quickly and easily through search engines like Google negatively alters the way people seek and read information and think. Johnson’s book “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter” covers the positive attributes of digital technology, video games in particular. He explains how video games are intellectually stimulating and help develop complex skills. Digital technology has interesting effects on the different processes of our mind.

Today we have the world of Google and over hundreds of cellphones, iTouchs, e-books and millions of websites at our disposal (Loertscher 2). These types of tools bring success to wide range of learners who face physical, development al, language or personal problems (Loertscher 3). Even though this tools can help different students with different types of learning styles and problems. Linking into Google and overflowing learners with information does not make products better or allows students to learn more. Technology has no real value if it is used for entertainment value or to use up time (Loertscher 3).