Is the Internet making us stupid?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Addled Platypus
I dont even read posts

I'm here for the pictures

Then you should wander over to MZO Central. In their Babe Thread, the girls have little-to-no clothing.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
Decreases your memory, as you can look stuff up instead of having it memorized.

Both could cause an apparent decrese in intelligence.

JM

:-|

Presumably the same applies to books.

[Cort Haus]

Anyway, memory <> intelligence

Sorry! The administrator has specified that users can only post one message every 30 seconds.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Re: Is the Internet making us stupid?

Originally posted by Nostromo

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Sorry, the article is too long to quote. And if you can't manage to read it and ask for a summary instead, you're somehow confirming the point of the article.

depends what you compare it to.

in comparison to "watching TV" it's making us smart.

[b etor]

Originally posted by Kidicious
She claims to be a male.

Maybe I am, maybe I'm not.

[Japher]

I met a chick like that once. Luckily for me I wasn't drunk enough to find out...

[LotC]

STFU b!tch! ur momz my hobag. suckit

[Imran Siddiqui]

Re: Re: Is the Internet making us stupid?

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave


depends what you compare it to.

in comparison to "watching TV" it's making us smart.

I think he's comparing it to read novels and such.

[Japher]

STFU b!tch! ur momz my hobag. suckit

my mom has been dead for 10 years... you sick-o

we demand you return her body!

[LotC]

Originally posted by Japher


my mom has been dead for 10 years... you sick-o

we demand you return her body!

have 2 xl extra cheese pizzas and a gallon of mountain dew delivered to my door and we have a deal

[McCrea]

Ok, seems clear that the author was basing everything (the article, his personal research) on the fact of losing interest of books.

I would congratulate him on achieving the minor goal of realizing that reading can be as brain-numbing as watching T.V.

It's ironic that the fool doesn't yet realize that since he had that epiphany, he should be classified as smarter, not more stupid.

[McCrea]

Re: Is the Internet making us stupid?

Originally posted by Nostromo

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

Sorry, the article is too long to quote. And if you can't manage to read it and ask for a summary instead, you're somehow confirming the point of the article.

I strongly disagree. The article does not have a firm base, and once you realize that, I think it's wise to spend time elsewhere. Also, I would guess the article is simply "too long for anything practical". That's a common problem with novelists.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
What exposed the author as a complete asshat was the pathetic, paranoid, conspiracy-theorising reference to "the growing power that computer engineers and software coders wield over our intellectual lives". ZOMG teh evil programmers are melting our brains!!!

Srsly?

[GePap]

Originally posted by Cort Haus


:-|

Presumably the same applies to books.

And that is a point the author brought up himself when discussing arguments as to why perhaps he is being too pessimistic (you know, the whole argument by Socrates against writing), which is one of the reasons I think it is a good article.

Anyway, memory <> intelligence

His issue is not merely about memory, or even about being clever, which is something that a lot of people confuse with intelligence.

The issue he brings up about the internet, which I think is valid, is that arguments, if they are made at all, are compressed to the point that supporting evidence or arguments are no longer there and the reader no longer engages with them. I do think there is a fundamental difference between taking a long writen thesis (usually in book form) and then spending hours examining it, reading it, mentally arguing with it or absorbing it, and taking something on the internet and spending minutes absorbing it, then deciding whether you agree, disagree, find amusing, so forth, and then moving on, without the piece having much if any long lasting effects.

[Aeson]

I didn't read it because it's on the internet and would make me stupid.