Carr's main argument is that the Internet may have detrimental effects on cognition that diminish the capacity for concentration and contemplation.Ĭarr's 2010 book, The Shallows, develops this argument further. Highly critical of the Internet's effect on cognition, the article has been read and debated widely in both the media and the blogosphere. In the summer of 2008, The Atlantic published Carr's article " Is Google Making Us Stupid?" as the cover story of its annual Ideas issue. It examines the economic and social consequences of the rise of Internet-based " cloud computing" comparing the consequences to those that occurred with the rise of electric utilities in the early 20th century. Ĭarr's second book, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, was published in January 2008 by W. In 2005, Carr published the controversial article "The End of Corporate Computing" in the MIT Sloan Management Review, in which he argued that in the future companies will purchase information technology as a utility service from outside suppliers. His ideas roiled the information technology industry, spurring heated outcries from executives of Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and other leading technology companies, although the ideas got mixed responses from other commentators. In these widely discussed works, he argued that the strategic importance of information technology in business has diminished as IT has become more commonplace, standardized and cheaper. Lastly, he also uses pointing words such as “this,” “these,” and “those.”.Nicholas Carr originally came to prominence with the 2003 Harvard Business Review article "IT Doesn't Matter" and the 2004 book Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage ( Harvard Business School Press). Carr used repetition in order to build bridges between what he previously said and new concepts or ideas. He described the scene in which HAL, the supercomputer is being disconnected by Astronaut Dave. For instance, Carr began his text by mentioning a scene from the film A Space Odyssey, he also concluded his text as such. Repetition and using “pointing words” both assist with the flow of the article. Nicholas Carr uses transitions to connect parts of his text and to help readers follow his train of thought by repeating himself with variation. How does Carr use transitions to connect the parts of his text and to help readers follow his train of thought? (See Chapter 8 to help you think about how they help develop an argument.) Our dependability on electronics and machinery replacess our own intelligence into artificial intelligence.Ĥ. It presents the idea of humans depending on technology to function efficiently.
This supports the argument conveyed by Nicholas Carr. This resulted in the astronaut disconnecting the memory circuits that oversee Hal’s brain. In the film, Dave was almost sent deep into space to die by his defective supercomputer. What happens to HAL and Dave, and how does it support his argument? Carr begins this essay by quoting an exchange between HAL and Dave, a supercomputer and astronaut in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey-and concludes by reflecting on that scene. He mentions that “the more pieces of information we can ‘access’ and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers.” He also endorses Google by asserting that the company seeks to develop “the perfect search engine” that “understands exactly what you mean and gives back exactly what you want.” I believe that Carr introduces these objections to display both perspectives to his readers.ģ. What possible objections to his own position does Carr introduce-and why do you think he does so? How effectively does he counter these objections?Ī few objections that Carr introduced to his own position include his perspective of Google and accessing information through the search engine. To support his answer, he presents a study conducted by the University College London that demonstrates how readers skim through articles and do not read more than one or two pages.Ģ. Nicholas Carr answers this question by mentioning the difficulty he and others experience when it comes to concentrating while reading.
Yes, Google is making us stupid or simply lazy. “Is Google making us stupid?” How does Nicholas Carr answer this question, and what evidence does he provide to support his answer?