Comments on: Changing the Way We Think

By: Bright Meadow » Cas on Technology

Bright Meadow » Cas on Technology — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:36:31 +0000

[...] Do you consider yourself to be a Luddite or a nerd? I can’t even fight the label, I am a nerd. But a cautious nerd with a few Luddite tendencies lurking in the background. I love new technology and heartily embrace the bits that make my life easier, but I do think there are more than a few instances where the “traditional” methods are just as valid. I am not a whole-hearted fan of the current trend toward digitising every aspect of our lives and putting it on a government database. I am not convinced children of seven need to be doing all their homework on a computer hooked into the network. I worry at the way my own brain and how I think is changing. [...]

By: Bright Meadow » Sunday Roast: I’m a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:13:04 +0000

[...] the internet changing the way we think? I put this link in here with no further discussion simply because I want to be able to find it [...]

By: Oli Rhys

Oli Rhys — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:30:52 +0000

You are finally getting close to what I have realized about the internet – It creates Groupthink.

Readers only read what they agree with. This confirms that not only are they right, but others agree with them. Sites which disagree with their ideas are not only ignored, but don’t even show up on their radar, making the reader even more convinced they are right.

Politicians suffer from groupthink more than most however, it is now becoming more obvious within single issue fanatics, be it global warming, anti microsoft or just some minority issue like wifi cancer!

The internet is making us stupider, but mostly through unconscious choice!

By: Tom Watson MP » Blog Archive » Forgetting how to read

Tom Watson MP » Blog Archive » Forgetting how to read — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:13:18 +0000

[...] The Internet makes you stupid. Or does it? Bill Thompson weighs up “the internet is rewiring our brains” [...]

By: knackeredhack

knackeredhack — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:15:29 +0000

As I’ve commented elsewhere in this debate, technology makes us smarter, but the environment that technology creates is consequently so much more complex. So relative to that environment we are more stupid. It’s quite possible that those, like Nick Carr, who ask whether Google is making them more stupid are just more sensitive to that, without knowing it directly.

What is then needed, for safety’s sake, is a progressive humility toward one’s own knowledge in the face of this expanding complex system. We should indeed expose ourselves to diverse perspectives, and the technology permits that too. But don’t worry, Fox does not qualify). Such a self-consciousness seems to be manifestly lacking within punditry today largely because certainty sells better than uncertainty. But only until a certain point. Ask the bankers.

By: Dominic Self

Dominic Self — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:37:56 +0000

Following Fox might just lead to the same syndrome I have: reading things so deeply divergent to your own point of view that they have a certain irresistibility to them, but don’t really make you think, because you’re deliberately seeking out extremes. I’m subscribed to the Peter Hitchens blog from the Mail on Sunday because it’s quite addictive fun, but I don’t think it makes me a better person. He is unintentionally hilarious though.