“Better than Human,” “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” and “Smarter than You Think,” are essays discussing whether technology is making a negative or positive impact on mankind. “Is Google Making Us Stupid” is an article written by Nicholas Carr, someone who recognizes the good, but overall believes technology is bad because of the negative effect he believes it has on mankind. “Better than Human” is written by Kevin Kelly, a supporter of technology, robots in particular, but believes in keeping the separation between robots and humans. “Smarter than You Think” is written by Clive Thompson, a person who is also for technology, robots in particular, but unlike Kelly, believes robots and humans should work together in order to develop into the best possible people/machines. Technology is a controversial topic being argued by each of the three authors. Each person argues their opinion with their supporting evidence, giving different views on the topic at hand. Is technology making a negative or positive impact on mankind?
Carr argues that technology is making people stupid, but does acknowledge the benefits of having technology. For example, Carr acknowledges that technology is beneficial when he states that “The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information are many, and they’ve been widely described and duly applauded,” (315). Carr claims that if someone ever wanted to know something, they could locate the information on the internet within seconds. Technology has allowed for information to be located in one place in seconds, instead of spending hours looking through books. “Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes,” (314).
Time can be crucial in a stressful environment where time can be the deciding factor between life and death. The location and transmission of information in an instant due to technology provides an advantage to people like doctors, lawyers, and military personnel. Carr understands the importance of the `advancement in communications that technology allows for mankind to possess. Carr also states, “The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive,” (325). The human brain is limited in what it can hold, but the Internet’s boundaries are infinite. When stating Google’s quote, Carr acknowledges the fact that people are able to accomplish so much on their own, but even more with a bit more help from technology.
Although Carr recognizes the positive possibilities, he believes technology is causing more of a negative impact. He first realizes this within his own writing and reading. Carr says he can no longer focus when reading books or long articles. For instance, Carr notices, “…what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation,” (315). Social networking was one of his main points because of the reconfiguration it does to the brain. The access to social networking causes a lack in concentration because people get accustomed to getting information in a quick, simple manner. Most people can relate to Carr when he says, “Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages,” (314). He believes technology has changed people’s way of thinking into searching for convenience over quality, hence fore, creating simple minded thinkers. This supports Carr’s argument and Wolf’s words of saying peoples’ “ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply without distraction, remains largely disengaged,” (317). Carr is concerned about how people are capable of knowing something without actually knowing it. Carr supports his main claim of technology and the Internet giving way to uneducated, lazy people.
In the essay, “Better than Human,” Kelly is arguing that humans should allow robots to take over the jobs they are capable of doing so that humans can have more time for creative thinking instead of tedious knowledge work. For instance, technology is always advancing taking over new sectors, which causes people to always be creative to come up with new ideas.
