Natural-born cyborgs or Brain dead zombies?
EMAC 2321 Assignment…
In the Feburary 2009 issue of Discover Magazine, Carl Zimmer tells us our minds are not under attack by the internet, but they are evolving to adapt to the mass of information to which the internet grants us access too. Zimmer argues for the extended mind concept, where using the computer to find information is equal to and equally efficient to physically remembering the information. In the article, Zimmer asks how the internet changes the way we think about the human mind, as well as how we judge what is good and bad about the emerging technologies on the internet. Zimmer argues that not only is the internet a wonderful tool to aid us in finding information, but its doing so in a natural way in which our brains naturally process information. He says that the internet is causing changes which are forcing our brains to process information in new ways, and those changes are in no way negative. Alternatively, Nicholas Carr argues in his Atlantic Monthly article, Is Google Making us Stupid?:
“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.”
The contrast between Zimmer and Carr’s views on the internet influence on humans is very fascinating. On one hand, Zimmer completely embraces the new technology as a way for humans to evolve and gain information on a level never seen before, he claims we are Natural-born cyborgs, able to interface and adapt to new technology on the fly. Carr clearly does not believe this is the case. Carr believes that the internet takes away from his abilities to concentrate and contemplate, he goes on to make several other claims about skills he has lost, or believes we are loosing due to this new technology. He claims this new media will turn us all into brain dead zombies.
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