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Is Google Making Us Stupid? - The Atlantic (July/August 2008)

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Saved by 494 people (-106 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-06-10


Public Comment

on 2008-07-19 by mnixonbv

Very true I think. Americans especially have turned to the clock for everything. We eat according to time of day not our bodies need for nourishment.

on 2008-07-23 by giggyg

Carr isn't alone in making this argument. Bauerlein has a whole book about the subject: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book5-2008jul05,0,3980465.story The question is: how many people ever willingly "read deeply" and how many read "serious literature." Carr's anecdotal victims of internet dumbing down are not convincing. In fact, I read this whole (very long) article online. And as other respondents say, skimming predates the internet, and being able to access more raw information, rather than waiting for the media moguls to decide for us (I'm a journalist myself, btw),has the potential to make us collectivelysmarter, not the other way around. Not to mention more empowered, in an assortment of ways, viz. Denis Diderot's original encyclopedia.

on 2008-09-18 by kiberens

Isn't this a gross overstatement? Alarmist b/c not even taking into account readers of his own thoughtful blog and the hundreds of others like it.

on 2008-09-20 by maxsenges

there is some interesting thinking going on the context of a Rights based approach to internet governance - http://www.internet-bill-of-rights.org/

on 2008-10-13 by bodhi367

I think it depends how the web is used. If somone surfs and hops through sites, link after link, then they are hurting their literacy. But the internet is a tool that can be utilized to find bountiful information quickly, and I believe that it can be focused on.

on 2009-09-02 by jimmy87

This is a really good reason to avoid texting all you do in the day... how come all keep doing it... is it interesting to text everything?

Public Sticky notes

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by arohlfs

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle. I think I know what’s going on ...

Highlighted by treyf22

Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by avanelk

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by tswicegood

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration

Highlighted by tswicegood

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

We are not only what we read

Highlighted by angelw

We are not only what we read

Highlighted by angelw

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by oakcliff214

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by oakcliff214

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by oakcliff214

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by oakcliff214

s likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets’reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlin

Highlighted by oakcliff214

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic. “Perhaps you will through this instrument even take to a new idiom,” the friend wrote in a letter, noting that, in his own work, his “‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

Highlighted by meganpoore

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by oakcliff214

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by oakcliff214

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by oakcliff214

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by oakcliff214

Perhaps you will through this instrument even take to a new idiom

Highlighted by balinjdl

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by oakcliff214

Highlighted by mfunkhou

July/August 2008 Atlantic Monthly

What the Internet is doing to our brains

by Nicholas Carr

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Highlighted by akoyako

Highlighted by mfunkhou

What the Internet is doing to our brains

Highlighted by jeff-milw

Highlighted by anikautd

Highlighted by lawfully

on 2008-06-18 by lawfully

power or lack of it of abstraction

on 2008-07-18 by marchs

nice. first site outside diigo i found a sticky note on :-D

on 2008-07-28 by korinuo

Interesting: Who is our internet patrol online? Google? Facebook? Peers? What do you think?

on 2008-08-01 by dcyuhas

There's some irony here. The author describes the inability to read books or long articles IN A LONG ARTICLE.

on 2009-01-12 by r4ph4el

@dave He didn't say he read his own article... ;-)

on 2009-02-04 by greasefire11

Dave beat me to the irony of the long article!

on 2009-03-05 by oline73

re: long article-- how many people had trouble staying focused while they read? anyone stop to check e-mail in the middle? or update facebook? I think that sort of proves his point.

on 2009-04-21 by ahammel

I am using this page as a discussion topic for my debate students. Google Scholar has helped correct some "easy way out" mentalities in my class, and Diigo, too, is supporting scholarly discussions in class.

on 2009-10-11 by stormagnet

I love it when people blame technology for their bad habits.

Google

Highlighted by zinzinzinnia

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Highlighted by stanz1959

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Highlighted by ecoinvestigator

Highlighted by sbowers

Highlighted by mwesch

Is Google

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Is Google Making Us Stupid?

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Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Highlighted by laurakaysmith

Highlighted by cgreenhow

Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial “ brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

Highlighted by greenfrog

"Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial »

brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

Highlighted by teron2007

Highlighted by jbhubbell

Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial “ brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

Highlighted by alishagordon

ne, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the m

Highlighted by josephndenton

ave, stop. Stop, will you? S

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

In a paper published in 1936, the British mathematician Alan Turing  proved that a digital computer, which at the time existed only as a theoretical machine, could be programmed to perform the function of any other information-processing device. And that’s what we’re seeing today. The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.

Highlighted by theranger

Highlighted by sghazar

deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory

Highlighted by sghazar

“Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.

Highlighted by academicdave

My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

I’m not thinking the way I used to think.

Highlighted by prettyflower

I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by niharm

Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy

Highlighted by sarahsutter

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.

Highlighted by slpowelson

I can feel it, too

Highlighted by honormoorman

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain

Highlighted by honormoorman

on 2009-10-24 by honormoorman

I agree with this sentiment

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.

Highlighted by serendipitina

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

had an uncomfortable sen

Highlighted by cmg543

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages.

Highlighted by s0793898

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.

Highlighted by honormoorman

That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.

Highlighted by wenzloff

concentration often starts to drift

Highlighted by sarahsutter

concentration often starts to drift

Highlighted by sarahsutter

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages

Highlighted by zinzinzinnia

remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory.

Highlighted by ltogioka

I’m not thinking the way I used to think.

Highlighted by marianbonita

My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think

Highlighted by phdumper

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by prettyflower

My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by etown2890

Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy.

Highlighted by marianbonita

I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by caitxsith

The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by beahgo

The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by persei

Highlighted by wenzloff

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by theranger

concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages

Highlighted by mjc239

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages.

Highlighted by jimwenz

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.

Highlighted by jtkatavich

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by oline73

on 2009-11-18 by oline73

We are only going to find more of this thanks to twitter.

I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after. Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets—reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link. (Unlike footnotes, to which they’re sometimes likened, hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)

Highlighted by sjptech08

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages

Highlighted by mollyclancy

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by ltogioka

. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and s

Highlighted by missmeliosky

Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages

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I think I know what’s going on

Highlighted by wenzloff

feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by dmrsci

The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by academicdave

The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle

Highlighted by gummby

The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by pinkcar22

The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by alishagordon

. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minute

Highlighted by caitxsith

The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

Highlighted by mfunkhou

A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote

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pithy quote

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I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer.

Highlighted by ko01bps

For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer.

Highlighted by webenito

The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer.

Highlighted by ltogioka

Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after.

Highlighted by theranger

The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer.

Highlighted by marianbonita

Web has been a godsend to me as a writer

Highlighted by phdumper

(Unlike footnotes, to which they’re sometimes likened, hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

(Unlike footnotes, to which they’re sometimes likened, hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)

Highlighted by willrich

I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after. Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets’reading and

Highlighted by jimwenz

the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by luisalberola

the Net is becoming a universal medium

Highlighted by willrich

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind.

Highlighted by prettyflower

(Unlike footnotes, to which they’re sometimes likened, hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)

Highlighted by marianbonita

(Unlike footnotes, to which they’re sometimes likened, hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

Wired’s Clive Thompson has written,

Highlighted by zinzinzinnia

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation

Highlighted by margolis

hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)

Highlighted by carlaarena

media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by angelw

on 2009-09-09 by angelw

um..I think that leads to the question---who owns the media.

on 2009-09-14 by jtkatavich

No one owns the media, the media has become a channel for any person to make what they want of it.

on 2009-10-10 by isabellep

Print, TV, and digital media do shape our collective thinking process (think elections!). What the Internet does to a much greater extent is connect people with the opinion they want to hear. THe shades of what truth is are very much gray: it's in the eye of the beholder. On the flip side, the Internet also connects people with information and experts about what they are motivated to learn. It's the ultimate personnalized learning for kids! Good or bad...

media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by jimbeau

on 2008-09-30 by jimbeau

This contention needs more than pointing to. It needs to be established as true.

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind.

Highlighted by oakcliff214

universal medium

Highlighted by academicdave

Net is becoming a universal medium

Highlighted by mjc239

media are not just passive channels of information

Highlighted by sarahsutter

media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by caweldude

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Highlighted by akochan

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought

Highlighted by beahgo

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind. The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information are many, and they’ve been widely described and duly applauded.

Highlighted by mbmccorm

universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind

Highlighted by phdumper

shape the process of thought

Highlighted by sarahsutter

but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by zinzinzinnia

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Highlighted by oneran

They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Highlighted by willrich

The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information are many, and they’ve been widely described and duly applauded.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by wroush

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Highlighted by leifhar

The perfect recall of silicon memory,”

Highlighted by mjc239

nd what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles

Highlighted by caitxsith

Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by lsoldevila

Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by lsoldevila

“The perfect recall of silicon memory,” Wired’s Clive Thompson has written, “can be an enormous boon to thinking.”

Highlighted by s0793898

“can be an enormous boon to thinking

Highlighted by mjc239

But that boon comes at a price

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by lawfully

Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by rafaribas

media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by marianbonita

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by theranger

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by s0793898

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Highlighted by veeman60

media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by rkatclu

They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.

Highlighted by mjc239

media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought

Highlighted by phdumper

the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation

Highlighted by marianbonita

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Highlighted by professorphat

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

recently confessed

Highlighted by akipta

on 2008-06-21 by akipta

Read Scott Karp's comment on Carr's quote: http://publishing2.com/2008/06/17/connecting-the-dots-of-the-web-revolution/#more-1105

on 2009-07-13 by tomkrieglstein

@Allison - thanks for the link to this as I throughly enjoyed his reponse!

They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by carlaarena

chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation

Highlighted by rkatclu

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by jmaxer

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.

Highlighted by mbmccorm

My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by mjc239

The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.

Highlighted by demetri

on 2008-06-20 by demetri

Is this true for you? I don't think I've lost the ability to focus in depth, I think I've gained the ability to access a whole lot more information.

on 2008-06-21 by akipta

The more I read Nicholas Carr, the more I have to fight to stay focused on Nicholas Carr.

on 2009-04-24 by markkcurtis

I do not agree with this sentiment one bit. I have become so much MORE focussed on longer pieces of writing since viewing them online. Particularly now that tools such as Diigo and Digg exist. These tools make a long (and sometimes unsubstantiated, as we can see here) piece of writing a lot easier to consume. And so what if I graze through the information meadow? At least then I take it on - I'm just not the type of person that can read reams and reams in one go. But I can bet anyone that I'm more intelligent since the advent of Google and the like than I would have been without - having to rely on my lacking library services.

on 2009-08-31 by gummby

Well, this isn't an argument for or against the webs ability to shape or contribute to the growth of an intellectual. However, I do agree that my focus hasn't been noticeably affected. If anything, I only have just become more aware of the things that truly do and do not intrigue me. I run across passages on the web every day in which I lose focus rather easily. Except, I have also found e-books and other passages online that I tear right through.

My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.

Highlighted by leifhar

I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by in-diigo

Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

Highlighted by phdumper

the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.

Highlighted by niharm

The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.

Highlighted by beth05202

focused

Highlighted by doobii

literary types, most of them

Highlighted by academicdave

not the only one

Highlighted by phdumper

What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by willrich

—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences

Highlighted by s0793898

The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.

Highlighted by veeman60

. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing

Highlighted by jmaxer

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by caitxsith

I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon. Scott Karp, who writes a blog about online media, recently confessed that he has stopped reading books altogether. “I was a lit major in college, and used to be [a] voracious book reader,” he wrote. “What happened?” He speculates on the answer: “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by niharm

I was a lit major in college

Highlighted by jasonmkern

“I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print

Highlighted by markcmarino

his mental habits

Highlighted by akochan

I was a lit major in college, and used to be [a] voracious book reader,”

Highlighted by ltogioka

“What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by s0793898

He speculates on the answer: “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by veeman60

I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Highlighted by jimwenz

His thinking, he said, has taken on a “staccato” quality, reflecting the way he quickly scans short passages of text from many sources online.

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

Bruce Friedman, who blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits. “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,” he wrote earlier this year. A pathologist who has long been on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, Friedman elaborated on his comment in a telephone conversation with me. His thinking, he said, has taken on a “staccato” quality, reflecting the way he quickly scans short passages of text from many sources online. “I can’t read War and Peace  anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

Highlighted by theranger

Bruce Friedman, who blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits. “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,”

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

“staccato” quality, reflecting the way he quickly scans short passages of text from many sources online

Highlighted by sarahsutter

“I can’t read War and Peace anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

Highlighted by leifhar

I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,

Highlighted by apaster

“I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,”

Highlighted by pinkfenix

the Internet has altered his mental habits. “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,”

Highlighted by jmaxer

ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,” he wrote earlier this year. A pathologist who has long been on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, Friedman elaborated on his comment in a telephone conversation with me. His thinking, he said, has taken on a “staccato” quality, reflecting the way he quickly scans short passages of text from many sources online. “I can’t read War and Peace  anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

Highlighted by smccord402

Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.

Highlighted by rafaribas

“I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

Highlighted by prettyflower

War and Peace  

Highlighted by bbender87

pathologist who has lon

Highlighted by jimwenz

His thinking, he said, has taken on a “staccato” quality

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

Anecdotes alone don’t prove much.

Highlighted by kiberens

we still await the long-term neurological and psychological experiments that will provide a definitive picture of how Internet use affects cognition.

Highlighted by willrich

As part of the five-year research program, the scholars examined computer logs documenting the behavior of visitors to two popular research sites, one operated by the British Library and one by a U.K. educational consortium, that provide access to journal articles, e-books, and other sources of written information. They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site. Sometimes they’d save a long article, but there’s no evidence that they ever went back and actually read it.

Highlighted by dxbjack

Anecdotes alone don’t prove much. And we still await the long-term neurological and

Highlighted by oakcliff214

reflecting the way he quickly scans short passages of text from many sources online.

Highlighted by jmaxer

recently published study of online research habits,

Highlighted by persei

But a recently published study of online research habits, conducted by scholars from University College London, suggests that we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think.

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

“I can’t read War and Peace  anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

Highlighted by s0793898

I’ve lost the ability to do that

Highlighted by veeman60

“I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

Highlighted by kschilling12

we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think.

Highlighted by willrich

we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think

Highlighted by akochan

too much to absorb.

Highlighted by rkatclu

I skim it.”

Highlighted by marianbonita

we still await the long-term neurological and psychological experiments that will provide a definitive picture of how Internet use affects cognition.

Highlighted by mjc239

As part of the five-year research program, the scholars examined computer logs documenting the behavior of visitors to two popular research sites,

Highlighted by prettyflower

one operated by the British Library and one by a U.K. educational consortium, that provide access to journal articles, e-books, and other sources of written information. They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site.

Highlighted by wenzloff

But a recently published study of online research habits , conducted by scholars from University College London, suggests that we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think. As part of the five-year research program, the scholars examined computer logs documenting the behavior of visitors to two popular research sites, one operated by the British Library and one by a U.K. educational consortium, that provide access to journal articles, e-books, and other sources of written information. They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site. Sometimes they’d save a long article, but there’s no evidence that they ever went back and actually read it.

Highlighted by theranger

They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited.

Highlighted by persei

They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited.

Highlighted by demetri

But a recently published study of online research habits , conducted by scholars from University College London, suggests that we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think.

Highlighted by cgreenhow

suggests that we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

a recently published study

Highlighted by phdumper

They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site. Sometimes they’d save a long article, but there’s no evidence that they ever went back and actually read it. The authors of the study report:

Highlighted by prettyflower

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by hennis

They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site

Highlighted by ethelo

They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another sit

Highlighted by phdumper

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by willrich

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by beahgo

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by fred1st

They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site

Highlighted by jimwenz

They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by oneran

They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site. Sometimes they’d save a long article, but there’s no evidence that they ever went back and actually read it. The authors of the study report:

Highlighted by ytorres

before they would “bounce” out to another site

Highlighted by mollyclancy

we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice.

Highlighted by eyalnow

they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self. “We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. “We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace.

Highlighted by braddo

they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by prettyflower

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by academicdave

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by ethelo

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by marianbonita

Highlighted by wenzloff

Highlighted by jimwenz

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by s0793898

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by jmaxer

we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.

Highlighted by rafaribas

“power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins.

Highlighted by veeman60

But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.

Highlighted by kiberens

Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by hennis

We are not only what we read,

Highlighted by sarahsutter

“We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. “We are how we read.”

Highlighted by willrich

ut it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self. “We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain.

Highlighted by caitxsith

It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by evansaysblah

“power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins

Highlighted by carlaarena

We are how we read.”

Highlighted by jimbeau

on 2008-09-30 by jimbeau

This seems an important point.

on 2009-02-11 by jarceo

yes. if we read well we learn well...

about 14 hours ago by jbear95

You really think it's an important point. Not to be snarky, but I would say so. I mean, it is discussing how we read and what we read.

We are how we read.”

Highlighted by sarahsutter

“We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace.

Highlighted by rosekrans13

Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.

Highlighted by beca1116

Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.

Highlighted by jmaxer

“efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else,

Highlighted by sarahsutter

Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by willrich

we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking

Highlighted by jimwenz

we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading,

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice.

Highlighted by mjc239

Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self

Highlighted by phdumper

we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s

Highlighted by ltogioka

But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.

Highlighted by marianbonita

different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking

Highlighted by mjc239

and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self

Highlighted by ethelo

a different kind of reading

Highlighted by ethelo

But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

ut it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self. “We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain.

Highlighted by jbear95

But it’s a different kind of reading

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

television was our medium of choice

Highlighted by mbmccorm

we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by fred1st

. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by beahgo

Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by urbansprawls

We are how we read.”

Highlighted by marianbonita

We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

“We are how we read.

Highlighted by veeman60

“We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by jmaxer

Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by prettyflower

Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by jbear95

We are not only what we read

Highlighted by carlaarena

Experiments demonstrate that readers of ideograms, such as the Chinese, develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs an alphabet.

Highlighted by eyalnow

deep reading

Highlighted by ethelo

Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand. And the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains.

Highlighted by fred1st

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Highlighted by niharm

We are how we read

Highlighted by carlaarena

Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace

Highlighted by carlaarena

an earlier technology

Highlighted by rkatclu

When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

And the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains

Highlighted by beahgo

mere decoders of information

Highlighted by veeman60

Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by sworden

“mere decoders of information.”

Highlighted by marianbonita

Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by mjc239

Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged

Highlighted by jasonhbuck

We can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.

Highlighted by eyalnow

Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged

Highlighted by phdumper

remains largely disengaged

Highlighted by mollyclancy

Experiments demonstrate that readers of ideograms, such as the Chinese, develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs an alphabet.

Highlighted by lawfully

Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Highlighted by carlaarena

Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings.

Highlighted by veeman60

We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand

Highlighted by mjc239

We can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.

Highlighted by willrich

the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.

Highlighted by rafaribas

on 2008-06-14 by rafaribas

How does this affect the way we teach?

on 2008-07-28 by korinuo

A good reference is: Penskys article on Digital Natives and Digital Inmigrants, look it up in any schorlarly database.

on 2008-09-30 by jimbeau

Reading on the Internet is not as different as reading Chinese--and I'd like to see those experiments. My thought is that one might find that individual differences in 'wiring' inside a culture might be greater than the differences across two cultures. And 'wiring' is a metaphor, is it not?

important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains

Highlighted by mjc239

And the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains

Highlighted by phdumper

Experiments demonstrate that readers of ideograms, such as the Chinese, develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs an alphabet.

Highlighted by marianbonita

Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter

Highlighted by tmarch

Sometime in 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter—a Malling-Hansen Writing Ball, to be precise. His vision was failing, and keeping his eyes focused on a page had become exhausting and painful, often bringing on crushing headaches. He had been forced to curtail his writing, and he feared that he would soon have to give it up. The typewriter rescued him, at least for a time. Once he had mastered touch-typing, he was able to write with his eyes closed, using only the tips of his fingers. Words could once again flow from his mind to the page.

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

We can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

Friedrich Nietzsche

Highlighted by marianbonita

Sometime in 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter

Highlighted by s0793898

“‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

Highlighted by braddo

But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic. “Perhaps you will through this instrument even take to a new idiom,” the friend wrote in a letter, noting that, in his own work, his “‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

Highlighted by meganpoore

The typewriter rescued him, at least for a time. Once he had mastered touch-typing, he was able to write with his eyes closed, using only the tips of his fingers. Words could once again flow from his mind to the page.

Highlighted by jbear95

The typewriter rescued him, at least for a time. Once he had mastered touch-typing, he was able to write with his eyes closed

Highlighted by s0793898

from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.

Highlighted by braddo

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler, Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Highlighted by beahgo

One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Highlighted by caweldude

“our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Highlighted by lawfully

But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic. “Perhaps you will through this instrument even take to a new idiom,” the friend wrote in a letter, noting that, in his own work, his “‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

Highlighted by s0793898

noticed a change in the style of his writing

Highlighted by ltogioka

But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic. “Perhaps you will through this instrument even take to a new idiom,” the friend wrote in a letter, noting that, in his own work, his “‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

Also see:

Living With a Computer

(July 1982)
"The process works this way. When I sit down to write a letter or start the first draft of an article, I simply type on the keyboard and the words appear on the screen..." By James Fallows

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler , Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler , Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

Highlighted by meganpoore

His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic

Highlighted by mjc239

noticed a change in the style of his writing

Highlighted by mjc239

Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler, Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

Highlighted by lawfully

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Highlighted by prettyflower

Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

Highlighted by sarahsutter

Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler, Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

Highlighted by layneheiny

“‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

Highlighted by marianbonita

“‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

Highlighted by theranger

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.

Highlighted by veeman60

“our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Highlighted by mjc239

our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Highlighted by marianbonita

infinitely malleable

Highlighted by sarahsutter

Nietzsche

Highlighted by rkatclu

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler , Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

Highlighted by s0793898

changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style

Highlighted by jimmy87

As we use what the sociologist Daniel Bell has called our “intellectual technologies”—the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.

Highlighted by eyalnow

“The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

Highlighted by lawfully

Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.

Highlighted by ecoinvestigator

The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind “is very plastic.” Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. “The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

Highlighted by jmaxer

The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind “is very plastic.” Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. “The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

Highlighted by fox3ja

human brain is almost infinitely malleable.

Highlighted by mjc239

As we use what the sociologist Daniel Bell has called our “intellectual technologies”—the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.

Highlighted by kblades

As we use what the sociologist Daniel Bell has called our “intellectual technologies”—the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.

Highlighted by willrich

“I can’t read War and Peace anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that.

Highlighted by ecoinvestigator

The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind “is very plastic.”

Highlighted by jbear95

In Technics and Civilization, the historian and cultural critic Lewis Mumford described how the clock “disassociated time from human events and helped create the belief in an independent world of mathematically measurable sequences.” The “abstract framework of divided time” became “the point of reference for both action and thought.”

Highlighted by braddo

The human brain is almost infinitely malleable

Highlighted by phdumper

“intellectual technologies”—the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case

Highlighted by carlaarena

says that even the adult mind “is very plastic

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

The mechanical clock, which came into common use in the 14th century, provides a compelling example.

Highlighted by akochan

on 2008-06-25 by akochan

In Japan, clock time did not belong to individuals, so how the sense of clock time is adapted in a society very much depends on the existing social relations, etc. For example, in an office situation, even it's 6 pm which signals the end of working time, you have to read the environment who is leaving and who is still there to judge your timing for leaving the office. Re: Present and Past article "Japan Time."

on 2009-09-29 by cheryl_vt

Very interesting insight. It reminds me that a lot of what we're talking about is cultural. Thanks, Asako.

“The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

Highlighted by mjc239

“The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

Highlighted by s0793898

The clock’s methodical ticking helped bring into being the scientific mind and the scientific man.

Highlighted by jahardman

the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.

Highlighted by mjc239

As we use what the sociologist Daniel Bell has called our “intellectual technologies”—the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.

Highlighted by s0793898

intellectual technologies

Highlighted by phdumper

a rejection of those direct experiences

Highlighted by lawfully

rejection of those direct experiences that formed the basis for, and indeed constituted, the old reality

Highlighted by sarahsutter

the conception of the world that emerged from the widespread use of timekeeping instruments “remains an impoverished version of the older one, for it rests on a rejection of those direct experiences that formed the basis for, and indeed constituted, the old reality.”

Highlighted by tswicegood

Joseph Weizenbaum  observed in his 1976 book, Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation, the conception of the world that emerged from the widespread use of timekeeping instruments

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

The clock’s methodical ticking helped bring into being the scientific mind and the scientific man. But it also took something away. As the late MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum  observed in his 1976 book, Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation, the conception of the world that emerged from the widespread use of timekeeping instruments “remains an impoverished version of the older one, for it rests on a rejection of those direct experiences that formed the basis for, and indeed constituted, the old reality.” In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.

Highlighted by theranger

adapting to new intellectual technologies

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

The clock’s methodical ticking helped bring into being the scientific mind and the scientific man. But it also took something away. As the late MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum  observed in his 1976 book, Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation, the conception of the world that emerged from the widespread use of timekeeping instruments “remains an impoverished version of the older one, for it rests on a rejection of those direct experiences that formed the basis for, and indeed constituted, the old reality.” In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.

Highlighted by s0793898

But it also took something away.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.

Highlighted by mnixonbv

on 2008-07-19 by mnixonbv

Still trying to figure out the sticky note thing. I agree it was nice to find Diigo annotations outside of Diigo.

on 2008-08-01 by dcyuhas

In the approx 2 years that I've been using diigo, this is the first annotated article I've encountered. Unless there's a tidal wave of new diigo users (highly unlikely) diigo will be just another failed experiment.

Highlighted by jonweldon

In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.

Highlighted by tswicegood

In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

impoverished

Highlighted by phdumper

at a biological level.

Highlighted by lawfully

we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

The Internet promises to have particularly far-reaching effects on cognition.

Highlighted by willrich

In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

adaptation occurs also at a biological level.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

When the mechanical clock arrived, people began thinking of their brains as operating “like clockwork.” Today, in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating “like computers.”

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

ocessing device. And that’s what we’re seeing today. The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio

Highlighted by jahardman

The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.

Highlighted by willrich

But the changes, neuroscience tells us, go much deeper than metaphor. Thanks to our brain’s plasticity, the adaptation occurs also at a biological level.

Highlighted by academicdave

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image.

Highlighted by eyalnow

Thanks to our brain’s plasticity, the adaptation occurs also at a biological level.

Highlighted by mjc239

British mathematician Alan Turing

Highlighted by sbowers

on 2009-07-28 by sbowers

Turing had a huge role in winning WWII. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_turing

Highlighted by wenzloff

It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.

Highlighted by caitxsith

It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.

Highlighted by wenzloff

The Internet promises to have particularly far-reaching effects on cognition. In a paper published in 1936, the British mathematician Alan Turing  proved that a digital computer, which at the time existed only as a theoretical machine, could be programmed to perform the function of any other information-processing device. And that’s what we’re seeing today. The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

hen the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by pjhiggins

on 2008-06-21 by pjhiggins

This shows me that new skills are necessary, or in the least, old ones need to be reconstituted. What jobs or tasks become prioritized? Can we not turn off all of our notifiers and our distractors while we indeed focus on what needs to be done? These are skills, not just simple behaviors.

Highlighted by anikautd

The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.

Highlighted by s0793898

scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by mwesch

A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by beth05202

becoming

Highlighted by phdumper

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by jmaxer

Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets. When, in March of this year, TheNew York Times decided to devote the second and third pages of every edition to article abstracts, its design director, Tom Bodkin, explained that the “shortcuts” would give harried readers a quick “taste” of the day’s news, sparing them the “less efficient” method of actually turning the pages and reading the articles. Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by lawfully

traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image.

Highlighted by mjc239

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by theranger

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by s0793898

content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws

Highlighted by mjc239

A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image

Highlighted by phdumper

When, in March of this year, TheNew York Times decided to devote the second and third pages of every edition to article abstracts, its design director, Tom Bodkin, explained that the “shortcuts” would give harried readers a quick “taste” of the day’s news, sparing them the “less efficient” method of actually turning the pages and reading the articles.

Highlighted by zinzinzinnia

The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration

Highlighted by rkatclu

The Net’s influence doesn’t end at the edges of a computer screen, either. As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations.

Highlighted by jmaxer

The Net’s influence doesn’t end at the edges of a computer screen, either. As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations

Highlighted by apaster

he crazy quilt of Internet media

Highlighted by bkbriankelly

The Net’s influence doesn’t end at the edges of a computer screen, either. As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations. Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets.

Highlighted by theranger

As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt

Highlighted by mjc239

Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by rafaribas

traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations

Highlighted by ltogioka

About the same time that Nietzsche started using his typewriter, an earnest young man named Frederick Winslow Taylor carried a stopwatch into the Midvale Steel plant in Philadelphia and began a historic series of experiments aimed at improving the efficiency of the plant’s machinists. With the approval of Midvale’s owners, he recruited a group of factory hands, set them to work on various metalworking machines, and recorded and timed their every movement as well as the operations of the machines. By breaking down every job into a sequence of small, discrete steps and then testing different ways of performing each one, Taylor created a set of precise instructions—an “algorithm,” we might say today—for how each worker should work. Midvale’s employees grumbled about the strict new regime, claiming that it turned them into little more than automatons, but the factory’s productivity soared.

Highlighted by tswicegood

Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us. The Net’s intellectual ethic remains obscure.

Highlighted by willrich

pop-up ads

Highlighted by in-diigo

Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets

Highlighted by mjc239

Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by caweldude

Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by mwesch

Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets. When, in March of this year, TheNew York Times decided to devote the second and third pages of every edition to article abstracts , its design director, Tom Bodkin, explained that the “shortcuts” would give harried readers a quick “taste” of the day’s news, sparing them the “less efficient” method of actually turning the pages and reading the articles. Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by s0793898

little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us

Highlighted by sarahsutter

The Net’s intellectual ethic remains obscure.

Highlighted by rafaribas

on 2008-06-14 by rafaribas

Great discussion topic...

Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives—or exerted such broad influence over our thoughts—as the Internet does today. Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us.

Highlighted by jasnazmak

A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

Highlighted by briancsmith

Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us.

Highlighted by mwesch

Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives—or exerted such broad influence over our thoughts—as the Internet does today.

Highlighted by anikautd

Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us.

Highlighted by anikautd

Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

Frederick Winslow Taylor

Highlighted by lawfully

Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by mfunkhou

Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by traveller2008

on 2009-02-25 by traveller2008

Such as traditional encyclopedias trying to compete with wikipedia by letting user contribute to content

Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

bout the same time that Nietzsche started using his typewriter, an earnest young man named Frederick Winslow Taylor carried a stopwatch into the Midvale Steel plant in Philadelphia and began a historic series of experiments aimed at improving the efficiency of the plant’s machinists.

Highlighted by jasnazmak

Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives

Highlighted by ltogioka

Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives—or exerted such broad influence over our thoughts—as the Internet does today. Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us. The Net’s intellectual ethic remains obscure.

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More than a hundred years after the invention of the steam engine, the Industrial Revolution had at last found its philosophy and its philosopher.

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reprogramming

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Frederick Winslow Taylor  carried a stopwatch into the Midvale Steel plant in Philadelphia and began a historic series of experiments aimed at improving the efficiency of the plant’s machinists

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“algorithm,”

Highlighted by lawfully

claiming that it turned them into little more than automatons, but the factory’s productivity soared.

Highlighted by mnixonbv

on 2008-07-19 by mnixonbv

Is this what we've all become? Is this our future as we skim and scan for information and move along before reaching the end of an article or book?

one best method

Highlighted by gpendergraft

By breaking down every job into a sequence of small, discrete steps and then testing different ways of performing each one, Taylor created a set of precise instructions—an “algorithm,” we might say today—for how each worker should work.

Highlighted by mjc239

Taylor’s tight industrial choreography—his “system,” as he liked to call it—was embraced by manufacturers throughout the country and, in time, around the world.

Highlighted by jasnazmak

productivity soared.

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“In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

Highlighted by sarahsutter

Once his system was applied to all acts of manual labor, Taylor assured his followers, it would bring about a restructuring not only of industry but of society, creating a utopia of perfect efficiency. “In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

Highlighted by jasnazmak

The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”

Highlighted by willrich

Taylor’s system is still very much with us; it remains the ethic of industrial manufacturing.

Highlighted by akochan

“In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

Highlighted by mwesch

y. “In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

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Taylor’s ethic is beginning to govern the realm of the mind as well

Highlighted by sarahsutter

The goal, as Taylor defined it in his celebrated 1911 treatise, The Principles of Scientific Management, was to identify and adopt, for every job, the “one best method” of work and thereby to effect “the gradual substitution of science for rule of thumb throughout the mechanic arts.”

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

Taylor assured his followers, it would bring about a restructuring not only of industry but of society, creating a utopia of perfect efficiency

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

the gradual substitution of science for rule of thumb throughout the mechanic arts.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

“In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

Once his system was applied to all acts of manual labor, Taylor assured his followers, it would bring about a restructuring not only of industry but of society, creating a utopia of perfect efficiency. “In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

Highlighted by mjc239

Google, says its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, is “a company that’s founded around the science of measurement,” and it is striving to “systematize everything” it does.

Highlighted by eyalnow

Google’s headquarters, in Mountain View, California—the Googleplex—is the Internet’s high church, and the religion practiced inside its walls is Taylorism. Google, says its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, is “a company that’s founded around the science of measurement,”

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

Taylor’s system is still very much with us

Highlighted by arossett

“In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

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on 2009-10-28 by jasonhbuck

This is one of the scariest thoughts in the entire article. When the system become first and foremost people will loose the ability to think and reason for themselves. They will look to the system to think for them.

“In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

Highlighted by mfunkhou

oogle’s headquarters, in Mountain View, California—the Googleplex—is the Internet’s high church, and the religion practiced inside its walls is Taylorism.

Highlighted by akochan

on 2008-06-25 by akochan

It also freed us from taylorism thinking at where we are???

The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”

Highlighted by prettyflower

to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”

Highlighted by wenzloff

nd it is striving to “systematize everything” it does. Drawing on the terabytes of behavioral data it collects through its search engine and other sites, it carries out thousands of experiments a day, according to the Harvard Business Review, and it uses the results to refine the algorithms that increasingly control how people find information and extract meaning from it. What Taylor did for the work of the hand, Google is doing for the work of the mind.

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

Taylor’s ethic is beginning to govern the realm of the mind as well.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

Google, says its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, is “a company that’s founded around the science of measurement,” and it is striving to “systematize everything” it does.

Highlighted by jasnazmak

Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information

Highlighted by mjc239

The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”

Highlighted by phdumper

The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

refine the algorithms that increasingly control how people find information and extract meaning from it

Highlighted by sarahsutter

The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”

Highlighted by s0793898

What Taylor did for the work of the hand, Google is doing for the work of the mind.

Highlighted by rosekrans13

What Taylor did for the work of the hand, Google is doing for the work of the mind.

Highlighted by lawfully

Google, says its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, is “a company that’s founded around the science of measurement,”

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

What Taylor did for the work of the hand, Google is doing for the work of the mind.

Highlighted by caweldude

“understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.”

Highlighted by sarahsutter

“For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.”

Highlighted by tswicegood

Google, says its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, is “a company that’s founded around the science of measurement,” and it is striving to “systematize everything” it does. Drawing on the terabytes of behavioral data it collects through its search engine and other sites, it carries out thousands of experiments a day, according to the Harvard Business Review, and it uses the results to refine the algorithms that increasingly control how people find information and extract meaning from it. What Taylor did for the work of the hand, Google is doing for the work of the mind.

Highlighted by s0793898

What Taylor did for the work of the hand, Google is doing for the work of the mind.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

Highlighted by tswicegood

It seeks to develop “the perfect search engine,” which it defines as something that “understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.”

Highlighted by prettyflower

The more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers.

Highlighted by mwesch

The company has declared that its mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” It seeks to develop “the perfect search engine,” which it defines as something that “understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.” In Google’s view, information is a kind of commodity, a utilitarian resource that can be mined and processed with industrial efficiency. The more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers.

Highlighted by theranger

“to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Highlighted by mjc239

In Google’s view, information is a kind of commodity, a utilitarian resource that can be mined and processed with industrial efficiency. The more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers.

Highlighted by jmaxer

“understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.”

Highlighted by mjc239

It seeks to develop “the perfect search engine,” which it defines as something that “understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.”

Highlighted by phdumper

information is a kind of commodity

Highlighted by mjc239

In Google’s view, information is a kind of commodity, a utilitarian resource that can be mined and processed with industrial efficiency. The more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

“Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.”

Highlighted by zinzinzinnia

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the gifted young men who founded Google while pursuing doctoral degrees in computer science at Stanford, speak frequently of their desire to turn their search engine into an artificial intelligence, a HAL-like machine that might be connected directly to our brains. “The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,” Page said in a speech a few years back. “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.”

Highlighted by theranger

Where does it end? Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the gifted young men who founded Google while pursuing doctoral degrees in computer science at Stanford, speak frequently of their desire to turn their search engine into an artificial intelligence, a HAL-like machine that might be connected directly to our brains. “The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,” Page said in a speech a few years back. “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.” In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Brin said, “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.” Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

Highlighted by beca1116

“The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,” Page said in a speech a few years back. “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.” In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Brin said, “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.” Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

Highlighted by etown2890

Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

Highlighted by jasnazmak

Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

Highlighted by mwesch

“Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.”

Highlighted by prettyflower

a HAL-like machine

Highlighted by phdumper

“Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.” Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.

Highlighted by eyalnow

unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.

Highlighted by braddo

“Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.”

Highlighted by mjc239

there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by andrewbrucesmith

In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by willrich

a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation.

Highlighted by kiberens

Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed.

Highlighted by kiberens

The idea that our minds should operate as high-speed data-processing machines is not only built into the workings of the Internet, it is the network’s reigning business model as well. The faster we surf across the Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements. Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the better. The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by willrich

Such an ambition is a natural one, even an admirable one, for a pair of math whizzes with vast quantities of cash at their disposal and a small army of computer scientists in their employ. A fundamentally scientific enterprise, Google is motivated by a desire to use technology, in Eric Schmidt’s words, “to solve problems that have never been solved before,” and artificial intelligence is the hardest problem out there. Why wouldn’t Brin and Page want to be the ones to crack it?

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fuzziness of contemplation

Highlighted by sarahsutter

It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.

Highlighted by jasnazmak

Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed.

Highlighted by lawfully

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling.

Highlighted by prettyflower

The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by lawfully

In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by teddn13

there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation.

Highlighted by mwesch

Just as there’s a tendency to glorify technological progress, there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine. In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing.

Highlighted by benkraal

till, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.

Highlighted by academicdave

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.

Highlighted by etown2890

heir easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized

Highlighted by bkbriankelly

The faster we surf across the Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements

Highlighted by margolis

on 2008-08-08 by margolis

This might be the really substential argument here. The economic incentive for making our attention span shorter.

on 2009-09-19 by joerobguy

Facebook has been very successful combating this. Google can't get into Facebook accounts, so everyone's comments, pictures, etc. are not being used for commerce.

on 2009-10-14 by blumey

It's ironic that people shred their private data, guard their ss#, but don't think twice about their browsing history. And it doesn't matter if google know it's *you* (and they usually do). You're giving away the secrets they want. They can commidify your actions, and you can't collect directly. But they'll digitize the entire print world for you.

he human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by caitxsith

It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized. In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by theranger

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized. In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.

Highlighted by mjc239

The idea that our minds should operate as high-speed data-processing machines is not only built into the workings of the Internet, it is the network’s reigning business model as well.

Highlighted by mwesch

or even replaced

Highlighted by phdumper

And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.”

Highlighted by tswicegood

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized. In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by s0793898

It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized. In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by iburt7

“our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.”

Highlighted by akenyg

The faster we surf across the Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements. Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the better. The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by jasnazmak

The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

Maybe I’m just a worrywart. Just as there’s a tendency to glorify technological progress, there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine.

Highlighted by eyalnow

Just as there’s a tendency to glorify technological progress, there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine.

Highlighted by eyalnow

“filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.”

Highlighted by tswicegood

In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by rkatclu

Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized. In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

Highlighted by carlaarena

He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.”

Highlighted by braddo

He couldn’t foresee the many ways that writing and reading would

Highlighted by tswicegood

He couldn’t foresee the many ways that writing and reading would serve to spread information, spur fresh ideas, and expand human knowledge (if not wisdom).

Highlighted by benkraal

The idea that our minds should operate as high-speed data-processing machines is not only built into the workings of the Internet, it is the network’s reigning business model as w

Highlighted by bkbriankelly

It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by lawfully

expand human knowledge (if not wisdom).

Highlighted by tswicegood

The faster we surf across the Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

e Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements. Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we

Highlighted by bkbriankelly

should

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

The faster we surf across the Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements.

Highlighted by mjc239

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.”

Highlighted by jasnazmak

he last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by bkbriankelly

The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

“cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.”

Highlighted by lawfully

Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.

Highlighted by markcmarino

The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by veeman60

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.”

Highlighted by wenzloff

He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.

Highlighted by caitxsith

“be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant

Highlighted by sarahsutter

The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by mjc239

The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought.

Highlighted by rkatclu

It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by jasonhbuck

The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by phdumper

there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine.

Highlighted by ltogioka

The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by s0793898

aybe I’m just a worrywart. Just as there’s a tendency to glorify technological progress, there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine. In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.” They would be “filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.” Socrates wasn’t wrong—the new technology did often have the effects he feared—but he was shortsighted

Highlighted by beca1116

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.” They would be “filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.”

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.” They would be “filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.”

Highlighted by veeman60

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads

Highlighted by hamacleod

The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds.

Highlighted by rosekrans13

Socrates bemoaned the development of writing.

Highlighted by mjc239

It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Highlighted by carlaarena

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.”

Highlighted by iburt7

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.” They would be “filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.” Socrates wasn’t wrong—the new technology did often have the effects he feared—but he was shortsighted. He couldn’t foresee the many ways that writing and reading would serve to spread information, spur fresh ideas, and expand human knowledge (if not wisdom).

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.” They would be “filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.”

Highlighted by hamacleod

The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds.

Highlighted by jasnazmak

The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds. Others argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery.

Highlighted by jimwenz

The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds. Others argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery.

Highlighted by wenzloff

So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism.

Highlighted by eyalnow

Socrates wasn’t wrong—the new technology did often have the effects he feared—but he was shortsighted

Highlighted by rkatclu

couldn’t foresee the many ways that writing and reading would serve to spread information, spur fresh ideas, and expand human knowledge (if not wisdom).

Highlighted by mjc239

The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds.

Highlighted by willrich

The arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press, in the 15th century, set off another round of teeth gnashing. The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds. Others argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the better. The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

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human knowledge (if not wisdom)

Highlighted by phdumper

The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds.

Highlighted by veeman60

Gutenberg’s printing press, in the 15th century

Highlighted by mjc239

The arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press, in the 15th century, set off another round of teeth gnashing. The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds.

Highlighted by ytorres

easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds.

Highlighted by mjc239

The arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press, in the 15th century, set off another round of teeth gnashing. The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds. Others argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery. As New York University professor Clay Shirky notes, “Most of the arguments made against the printing press were correct, even prescient.” But, again, the doomsayers were unable to imagine the myriad blessings that the printed word would deliver.

Highlighted by s0793898

The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds. Others argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery. As New York University professor Clay Shirky notes, “Most of the arguments made against the printing press were correct, even prescient

Highlighted by iburt7

undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery

Highlighted by mjc239

argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery. As New York University professor Clay Shirky notes, “Most of the arguments made against the printing press were correct, even prescient.” But, again, the doomsayers were unable to imagine the myriad blessings t

Highlighted by lcaldera1

Then again, the Net isn’t the alphabet, and although it may replace the printing press, it produces something altogether different. The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds.

Highlighted by jasnazmak

In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

the Net isn’t the alphabet, and although it may replace the printing press, it produces something altogether different. The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds

Highlighted by rhcp027

Most of the arguments made against the printing press were correct, even prescient.” But, again, the doomsayers were unable to imagine the myriad blessings that the printed word would deliver.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

deep reading

Highlighted by mwesch

The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds.

Highlighted by caweldude

But, again, the doomsayers were unable to imagine the myriad blessings that the printed word would deliver.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

Highlighted by trinifar

Perhaps those who dismiss critics of the Internet as Luddites or nostalgists will be proved correct, and from our hyperactive, data-stoked minds will spring a golden age of intellectual discovery and universal wisdom.

Highlighted by phdumper

Perhaps those who dismiss critics of the Internet as Luddites or nostalgists will be proved correct, and from our hyperactive, data-stoked minds will spring a golden age of intellectual discovery and universal wisdom.

Highlighted by s0793898

produces something altogether different. The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter

Highlighted by bkbriankelly

And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.”

Highlighted by briancsmith

The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes

Highlighted by dmrsci

The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

Highlighted by theranger

The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

They would be “filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.”

Highlighted by briancsmith

a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West

Highlighted by gpendergraft

If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture.

Highlighted by markcmarino

intellectual vibrations

Highlighted by dmrsci

The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

Highlighted by iburt7

The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds

Highlighted by phdumper

In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

He couldn’t foresee the many ways that writing and reading would serve to spread information, spur fresh ideas, and expand human knowledge (if not wisdom).

Highlighted by briancsmith

Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

Highlighted by jimwenz

I come from a tradition of Western culture, in which the ideal (my ideal) was the complex, dense and “cathedral-like” structure of the highly educated and articulate personality—a man or woman who carried inside themselves a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West. [But now] I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available.”

Highlighted by jasnazmak

If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture. In a recent essay, the playwright Richard Foreman  eloquently described what’s at stake:

I come from a tradition of Western culture, in which the ideal (my ideal) was the complex, dense and “cathedral-like” structure of the highly educated and articulate personality—a man or woman who carried inside themselves a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West. [But now] I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available.”

As we are drained of our “inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,” Foreman concluded, we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

Highlighted by rsoldring

on 2009-05-25 by rsoldring

Also see: Dan Colman's "In Bed With the Word" - improtance of reading James Harken - "Lost in Cyburbia" - history and description of "Network"

Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

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If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture

Highlighted by ltogioka

Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

Highlighted by orangeturtle411

The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

Highlighted by carlaarena

In a recent essay, the playwright Richard Foreman  eloquently described what’s at stake:

I come from a tradition of Western culture, in which the ideal (my ideal) was the complex, dense and “cathedral-like” structure of the highly educated and articulate personality—a man or woman who carried inside themselves a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West. [But now] I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available.”

Highlighted by tomkrieglstein

as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence

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content

Highlighted by phdumper

I’m haunted by that scene in 2001. What makes it so poignant, and so weird, is the computer’s emotional response to the disassembly of its mind: its despair as one circuit after another goes dark, its childlike pleading with the astronaut—“I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m afraid”—and its final reversion to what can only be called a state of innocence. 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. Their thoughts and actions feel scripted, as if they’re following the steps of an algorithm. 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 intelligence.

Highlighted by terontech

I come from a tradition of Western culture, in which the ideal (my ideal) was the complex, dense and “cathedral-like” structure of the highly educated and articulate personality—a man or woman who carried inside themselves a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West. [But now] I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available.

Highlighted by veeman60

pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

Highlighted by sarahsutter

“‘pancake people

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If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture.

Highlighted by carlaarena

“‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

Highlighted by jasnazmak

I come from a tradition of Western culture, in which the ideal (my ideal) was the complex, dense and “cathedral-like” structure of the highly educated and articulate personality—a man or woman who carried inside themselves a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West. [But now] I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available.”

Highlighted by carlaarena

under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available

Highlighted by phdumper

pread wide and thin

Highlighted by ltogioka

we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

Highlighted by theranger

the ideal (my ideal) was the complex, dense and “cathedral-like” structure of the highly educated and articulate personality—a man or woman who carried inside themselves a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West.

Highlighted by jimbeau

on 2008-10-01 by jimbeau

Yes, this is the ideal--but is there really anything about the Internet that hinders this?

on 2009-09-28 by cheryl_vt

I think it's the concept that "something's gotta give." It's tough to be expert in both the Canon AND the information that's available on the internet. There are only so many hours in a day...

we risk turning into “‘pancake people’

Highlighted by mbmccorm

As we are drained of our “inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,” Foreman concluded, we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

Highlighted by iburt7

pancake people

Highlighted by rlfilipkowski

as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.

Highlighted by sarahsutter

As we are drained of our “inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,” Foreman concluded, we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

Highlighted by s0793898

I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m afraid

Highlighted by mollyclancy

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 intelligence.

Highlighted by caweldude

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 intelligence.

Highlighted by mwesch

Their thoughts and actions feel scripted, as if they’re following the steps of an algorithm. 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 intelligence.

Highlighted by academicdave

as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.

Highlighted by markcmarino

I’m haunted by that scene in 2001. What makes it so poignant, and so weird, is the computer’s emotional response to the disassembly of its mind: its despair as one circuit after another goes dark, its childlike pleading with the astronaut—“I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m afraid”—and its final reversion to what can only be called a state of innocence. 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. Their thoughts and actions feel scripted, as if they’re following the steps of an algorithm. 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 intelligence.

Highlighted by s0793898

“I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m afraid”—and its final reversion to what can only be called a state of innocence

Highlighted by oakcliff214

As we are drained of our “inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,” Foreman concluded, we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

Highlighted by carlaarena

final reversion to what can only be called a state of innocence

Highlighted by mjc239

as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.

Highlighted by alishagordon

as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.

Highlighted by theranger

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 intelligence.

Highlighted by oakcliff214

as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence

Highlighted by mjc239

Thanks to our brain’s plasticity, the adaptation occurs also at a biological level.

Highlighted by ecoinvestigator

emotionlessness that characterizes the human figures in the film, who go about their business with an almost robotic efficiency. Their thoughts and actions feel scripted, as if they’re following the steps of an algorithm.

Highlighted by briancsmith

information is a kind of commodity, a utilitarian resource that can be mined and processed with industrial efficiency. The more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers

Highlighted by rubyrubyruby

on 2008-07-21 by rubyrubyruby

For those who still read books, this reminds me somewhat of Jean Baudrillard's 'The Ecstasy of Communication': "Obscenity begins when there's no more spectacle, no more stage, no more theatre, no more illusions, when everything becomes immediately transparant, visible, exposed in the raw and inexorable light of information and communication. We no longer partake of the drama of alienation, but are in the ecstasy of communication."