Smarter Than You Think
The twenty-first century has brought about an explosion of information and ideas: as some would call it, the “digital renaissance.” With this comes the notion of mankind’s relationship to the machines that are making this new renaissance possible. Is the rise of technology improving how we think, or is it negatively impacting it? Are we getting “smarter” with the rise of this technology? This highly debated topic brings up many differing arguments. Clive Thompson in “Smarter than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better” argues that technology makes us smarter by extending our memory and augmenting our abilities. I argue that this view is dependent on the way that you define the word smarter. What makes a person smarter:
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Computers now play a significant role in education in high school and college. From using e-text books to using Google for research papers, almost all students interact with technology in some way during their studies. This has greatly increased the availability of information used for education. People can now learn about whatever they would like whenever they want. It is true that computers have made it easier to learn, but does the technology alone increase people’s mental capacity? In other words, does technology allow our minds to hold more information than it could before the invention of computers and the internet? The simple answer to that question is no. Our minds have not been “upgraded” to be able to hold more data or learn better, because we are not a machine. Carr implies that this thought is a dangerous one. The mind does not think like a computer does, in a “series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.” (Carr 325). The rise of computers has not made our minds like computers, it has instead allowed us to gain access to limitless information whenever we want it. It has made education easier and more accessible than ever before, but one must still take the time to learn the material. The argument that computers have somehow increased our organic mental capacity is a weak
Computers now play a significant role in education in high school and college. From using e-text books to using Google for research papers, almost all students interact with technology in some way during their studies. This has greatly increased the availability of information used for education. People can now learn about whatever they would like whenever they want. It is true that computers have made it easier to learn, but does the technology alone increase people’s mental capacity? In other words, does technology allow our minds to hold more information than it could before the invention of computers and the internet? The simple answer to that question is no. Our minds have not been “upgraded” to be able to hold more data or learn better, because we are not a machine. Carr implies that this thought is a dangerous one. The mind does not think like a computer does, in a “series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized.” (Carr 325). The rise of computers has not made our minds like computers, it has instead allowed us to gain access to limitless information whenever we want it. It has made education easier and more accessible than ever before, but one must still take the time to learn the material. The argument that computers have somehow increased our organic mental capacity is a weak