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My sons teacher posted this today. What do you think? Quote:There is a debate going on among the intelligentsia over the negative influence of the Internet upon people today. I heard a lecture given by a professor at Everett Community College about the negative aspects of humanity’s reliance upon the web. One of his key premises was that humans used to store information in their brains by reading, memorizing, and gaining a breadth of knowledge on a lot of subjects. Kind of like the group that Thomas Edison used to meet with weekly. The idea was that, as humans gained more knowledge and information and had it spinning around in their heads, they would be better able to create new ideas as an outgrowth of what lay beneath.
Now, the professor argued, humans have become so reliant upon information that they gain from the web, that they lack the ability to think critically on their own. Inspiration is less likely to bubble up to the top because there is less stewing in our brains.
Your Thoughts?
I think he has it backwards. I would say we have exponentially more information spinning around in our heads because all our questions are so easily answered, and interesting facts leading to more research are a constant stream in front of us every day. Critical thinking is not a direct function of the amount of information in our consciousness anyway. I think we all know a “trivia king” that isn’t the best at solving puzzles. I agree with Orson. I believe the internet has made more information freely available than ever before. It is said Einstein didn’t know his own phone number because he could simply look it up if he needed it. Quote:One of his key premises was that humans used to store information in their brains by reading, memorizing, and gaining a breadth of knowledge on a lot of subjects.
They still do.
How is the internet any different than a book? One can read the internet or a book. One can memorize information from the internet or a book. The internet can be like having access to the best, most extensive set of encyclopedias. You still have to study the information out to prove its worth, you can’t trust everything you read on the internet, but that’s really no different than any information source.
Quote:Kind of like the group that Thomas Edison used to meet with weekly.
Just imagine what Edison could have accomplished if he could meet weekly with other people and it
wasn’tlimited to just the people that were geographically close to him at the time. Internet. 
Quote:The idea was that, as humans gained more knowledge and information and had it spinning around in their heads, they would be better able to create new ideas as an outgrowth of what lay beneath.
Let’s say I want to learn about black holes, maybe create a new idea about them. Does it matter whether I read a scientific journal I found at the library or whether I read an online version of the same journal? Maybe if I had to put in all that effort to drive to the library and manually search for a journal (that might already be outdated) I would have decided that it wasn’t worth all that effort.
I can see the internet playing a role in straining our ability to focus. I might start off researching black holes and end up learning about penguin monogamy. That said, when I’ve got a serious interest in something I can read and study with a laserlike focus. When that’s the case the internet gives me access to more information, information that I might otherwise not have access to. If I follow sound academic approaches the additional information might contribute toward helping me reach better conclusions.
Quote:Now, the professor argued, humans have become so reliant upon information that they gain from the web, that they lack the ability to think critically on their own. Inspiration is less likely to bubble up to the top because there is less stewing in our brains.
I can see how the internet might fill the role of “the thinking has been done” so let’s go read it. I don’t think I’d say that there are less critical thinkers in the world as a result of the internet. It’s not like everyone was a critical thinker before the internet. The end result may be a more informed humanity, the critical thinkers are going to be critical thinkers no matter what.
Here’s another food for thought. Maybe the internet has helped people become critical thinkers.
1) Most people know you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Sometimes I wonder though, how many times has the glow in the dark Mt. Dew recipe shown up in my FB feed? If you know you can’t believe everything on the internet you think critically and dig deeper.
2) Without naming names, don’t some countries keep their populace purposely uninformed. What’s happening with the people in these countries as the internet helps them to become aware of the world around them. It shows them another way, they start to become critical of their old ways of life.
Quote:Now, the professor argued, humans have become so reliant upon information that they gain from the web, that they lack the ability to think critically on their own. Inspiration is less likely to bubble up to the top because there is less stewing in our brains.
One last parting shot at this one. Inspiration comes when we reach the end of the information that’s available to us. There’s quite a bit of information available to us nowadays but that information still has it’s limits. Our brains still stew, they’ll always stew, that’s what humans do. The more information we have access to the further our inspiration can carry us.
I’m not sure how I feel about this one but here goes.
If I don’t have much information available to me I’m going to spend lots of time reinventing the wheel. If I have information available to me I can use the wheel to invent something else. Human progress.
They may have a point in that I missed out on lessons (or practice) by leapfrogging the wheel but I’ll still end up learning those lessons in trying to decide what to do with the wheel.
Has the advent of new technology slowed down in the information age.
:angel: I would say there should be a balance in life. And as we change our learning habits from books or memorization to access to vast archives at our finger tips, we will learn healthy ways to balance the information we need to progress. When we go too far overboard in one direction that it produces a consequential negative result, we are smart enough to mitigate those without having to go backwards in time. I am sure there were less traffic accidents when people used horses and buggies. But we didn’t know what airbags were then. We develop new ways to be safe and still go faster as new technologies produce new needs for humans.
Your son should ask if that professor is investing in Barnes and Noble stock. I would doubt it.
I think the primary negative of the internet is that anyone and everyone can broadcast their own opinion, and people can take incredibly stupid, ignorant crap as Gospel truth simply because it has been published in a way that makes it look more intelligent than it actually is – but, to be honest, that has been true since the invention of written languages. 
The difference isn’t the internet; historically, the difference is the higher rate of literacy. Ignorant literates still are ignorant; they just are ignorant about more things, since they are exposed to more things but continue to reject anything that doesn’t match their default worldviews. Thoughtful people aren’t more thoughtful; they just are able to contemplate more things from more perspectives.
The internet, like sports and power, tends to highlight more clearly people’s fundamental nature – not change it in some way.
Old-Timer wrote:I think the primary negative of the internet is that anyone and everyone can broadcast their own opinion, and people can take incredibly stupid, ignorant crap as Gospel truth simply because it has been published in a way that makes it look more intelligent than it actually is.
…yes, Ray…this should be reserved for Gospel Doctrine class only…otherwise, the Internet is removing the need for us to physically attend church.
:lolno: Haha…ok…not really. The Internet makes it easier for teachers to prepare lessons for church, and I love how our church has all manuals and lessons and everything available so I don’t have to go find my books or memorize quotes. And when someone in class makes a ignorant statement, it is easy to quickly search the net in class and find true sources for gospel teachings, instead of misquoted materials. We adapt. We use the tools to make life better.
Well, going to go on a bit of a tangent, but this reminded me of something I was going to post about but then thought better of (in case it gave someone a clue on who I was, hah, paranoia). A couple weeks after finding this forum last year, one of my old Institute teachers, who I am friends with on Facebook to keep in touch since he moved out of the country, posted on his wall about the dangers of the internet for faithful Mormon members. It was a fairly lengthy post that talked about how he had watched many people turn away from the Church because of things they had found on the internet. He expressed his strong opinion that the truth would not be found on the internet, that we could not grow closer to God on the internet, because of all the toxic opinions on there, and that instead we had to turn to the Book of Mormon and other good works approved widely by the Church. And in my head I was just sitting there thinking, well, that’s true that my FC was exacerbated because of what I found and read on the Internet, but the Internet was also the only reason why post-FC I was able to stay LDS, so…
Like it’s being talked about in another thread, it’s all a matter of perspective.
On an end note, I credit the Internet with allowing me to develop an adaptable and wide world view due to all the viewpoints I have encountered over the years. Also, I’m pretty sure it’s the reason I have so many enjoyable hobbies and skills. Ah, perspective is different for all of us dependent on where and when we are standing.
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