Summary of Carr's "Is google making us stupid?" by Elizabeth Blake

1) In Nicholas Carr's essay "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" expresses his deep concern of the use of the internet and how it is effecting his brain. Carr feels like he has built a habit of skimming articles for research online as a frequent user and essayist, he has built such a strong habit of this that he can now no longer have the patience to sit down and read an actual book, for it lacks the instant gratification he is so used to from using the internet. "The net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation." Carr confesses. The internet is changing the way it's users minds process information. Carr furthers this thought with the euphamisim "Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski." Carr cautions readers to be weary of his speculations, stating that all through history change in technology has been thought of as a bad thing and now that we can look back and observe the effects of things like the printing press, which were thought in their time to be the end of intelect as they knew it, and how these discoveries have improved our society. With this said, Carr still feels the need to voice his concern, even if time will prove him wrong.
Carr uses internet giant, Google, to create a widely recognizable example of the effects of internet usage and the unperceived cost its users are paying. Carr decides to try to scare us in to opening our eyes by telling us that Google essetially wants to replace all of our brains with high functioning super computers, and that society would be better off for it. This comical take on the socialization of the internet is extreme, but not with out foundation. Google has been quoted that they beleive society would be better of with "supplimented" minds and that they are ligitimately working on artificial intellegence on a large scale. Though it's practical applications have yet to be revealed. Speculation reigns supreme in the mind of Carr, our resident doomsdayer once again confirming that fear of the unknown is alive and well.


2) There were a few points in Nicolas Carr's essay "Is Google making us stupid?" that really made me wary of his motives. Firstly, Carr brings up the idea of "knowledge as power" like it was his own original idea. He in no way addresses it's commonality even though it is something that I personally have heard since childhood. This seems a little off since Carr goes out of his way to cite multiple sources, but this is chump change, Carr also cites the works of Richard Foreman who believes we are being drained of our "inner repertory of dense cultural heritage." This statement really makes me wonder what Foreman and in turn Carr are trying to say about our society. It is my understanding that Christianity has played a heavy role in the history of our country, and if losing touch with a belief system that was so vastly intertwined with everything known before... I'm not so sure if this essay was written for people like me. I feel Carr could have made much better use of his quotations, not ended up playing the fool and alienating his readers.