iGoogle = iRobot

           After getting creeped out by the first paragraph and then adding A Space Odyssey to my list of movies to see, I settled down and listened to Nicholas Carr’s argument. From my interpretation, it’s not so much a question of “Is Google making us stupid” but “Is Google changing the way we think?” He referenced many studies done to support his view that continued internet use is rewiring our brains. Reading isn’t an instinct; it is a learned behavior that can change. I like the quote he referenced: “We are how we read.” He suggests that the way we sift and skim over the internet is affecting our ability to concentrate on long texts. “If we lose those quiet spaces (in our mind) or fill them up with ‘content’” then we lose the ability to get into a really good page turner. We WON’T be able to READ BOOKS. Is anyone else scared out of their mind?

He pins this problem on search engines. They make it easy to quickly find hundreds of entries on any subject that can keep a person occupied and not focused for hours. The internet thrives on how often you click. Carr brought the founders of Google into his argument. They, Brin and Page, apparently are into artificial intelligence. If Google could think for itself it could possibly produce the exact results you wanted when you entered something into the search bar. But really, our intelligence becomes artificial as we rely on an entire web of information to be available at the touch of a button.

I find it interesting that Carr centers his argument on search engines. It’s not as if Google or Bing or Yahoo actually have any content. But I suppose if it is all about being efficient and accessible, search engines do provide those one stop link emporiums. Compared to my classmates’ blogs, however, it doesn’t seem as if we spend much time using Google, at least to search. More time was spent on Facebook, YouTube, or websites of personal interest. If he was to answer the question “If Facebook making use stupid” though, I think he’d answer no. His paper isn’t about wasting time on the internet, or losing personal connection, but the way we get information now by reading snippets and summaries.

Can you imagine the internet without search engines? Really think about it. If you got online and needed to find something about…say garden gnomes, how would you? You wouldn’t be able to just type it in and click “go”. You be frozen on your home page! Or at least limited to the small number of URL’s you knew. Even if libraries that don’t have card catalogs you are still able to browse the shelves. Where would the bookshelves for the internet be? One website with an infinite list of addresses?