July/August 2008

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

What the Internet is doing to our brains
By Nicholas Carr

Illustration by Guy Billout

"Dave, stop !top, "ill you# !top, Dave Will you stop, Dave#$ !o the super%o&puter 'A( pleads "ith the i&pla%able astronaut Dave Bo"&an in a )a&ous and "eirdly poignant s%ene to"ard the end o) !tanley *ubri%+,s 2001: A Space Odyssey Bo"&an, having nearly been sent to a deep-spa%e death by the &al)un%tioning &a%hine, is %al&ly, %oldly dis%onne%ting the &e&ory %ir%uits that %ontrol its arti)i%ial . brain .Dave, &y &ind is going,$ 'A( says, )orlornly .I %an )eel it I %an )eel it $ I %an )eel it, too /ver the past )e" years I,ve had an un%o&)ortable sense that so&eone, or so&ething, has been tin+ering "ith &y brain, re&apping the neural %ir%uitry, reprogra&&ing the &e&ory 0y &ind isn,t going1so )ar as I %an tell1but it,s %hanging I,& not thin+ing the "ay I used to thin+ I %an )eel it &ost strongly "hen I,& reading I&&ersing &ysel) in a boo+ or a lengthy arti%le used to be easy 0y &ind "ould get %aught up in the narrative or the turns o) the argu&ent, and I,d spend hours strolling through long stret%hes o) prose 2hat,s rarely the %ase any&ore 3o" &y %on%entration o)ten starts to dri)t a)ter t"o or three pages I get )idgety, lose the thread, begin loo+ing )or so&ething else to do I )eel as i) I,& al"ays dragging &y "ay"ard brain ba%+ to the te4t 2he deep reading that used to %o&e naturally has be%o&e a struggle I thin+ I +no" "hat,s going on 5or &ore than a de%ade no", I,ve been spending a lot o) ti&e online, sear%hing and sur)ing and so&eti&es adding to the great databases o) the Internet 2he Web has been a godsend to &e as a "riter 6esear%h that on%e re7uired days in the sta%+s or periodi%al roo&s o) libraries %an no" be done in &inutes A )e"

Google sear%hes, so&e 7ui%+ %li%+s on hyperlin+s, and I,ve got the telltale )a%t or pithy 7uote I "as a)ter 8ven "hen I,& not "or+ing, I,& as li+ely as not to be )oraging in the Web,s in)o-thi%+ets,reading and "riting e-&ails, s%anning headlines and blog posts, "at%hing videos and listening to pod%asts, or 9ust tripping )ro& lin+ to lin+ to lin+ :;nli+e )ootnotes, to "hi%h they,re so&eti&es li+ened, hyperlin+s don,t &erely point to related "or+s< they propel you to"ard the& = 5or &e, as )or others, the 3et is be%o&ing a universal &ediu&, the %onduit )or &ost o) the in)or&ation that )lo"s through &y eyes and ears and into &y &ind 2he advantages o) having i&&ediate a%%ess to su%h an in%redibly ri%h store o) in)or&ation are &any, and they,ve been "idely des%ribed and duly applauded .2he per)e%t re%all o) sili%on &e&ory,$ Wired,s >live 2ho&pson has "ritten, .%an be an enor&ous boon to thin+ing $ But that boon %o&es at a pri%e As the &edia theorist 0arshall 0%(uhan pointed out in the ?@A0s, &edia are not 9ust passive %hannels o) in)or&ation 2hey supply the stu)) o) thought, but they also shape the pro%ess o) thought And "hat the 3et see&s to be doing is %hipping a"ay &y %apa%ity )or %on%entration and %onte&plation 0y &ind no" e4pe%ts to ta+e in in)or&ation the "ay the 3et distributes itB in a s"i)tly &oving strea& o) parti%les /n%e I "as a s%uba diver in the sea o) "ords 3o" I Cip along the sur)a%e li+e a guy on a Jet !+i I,& not the only one When I &ention &y troubles "ith reading to )riends and a%7uaintan%es1literary types, &ost o) the&1&any say they,re having si&ilar e4perien%es 2he &ore they use the Web, the &ore they have to )ight to stay )o%used on long pie%es o) "riting !o&e o) the bloggers I )ollo" have also begun &entioning the pheno&enon !%ott *arp, "ho "rites a blog about online &edia, re%ently %on)essed that he has stopped reading boo+s altogether .I "as a lit &a9or in %ollege, and used to be DaE vora%ious boo+ reader,$ he "rote .What happened#$ 'e spe%ulates on the ans"erB .What i) I do all &y reading on the "eb not so &u%h be%ause the "ay I read has %hanged, i e I,& 9ust see+ing %onvenien%e, but be%ause the "ay I 2'I3* has %hanged#$ Bru%e 5ried&an, "ho blogs regularly about the use o) %o&puters in &edi%ine, also has des%ribed ho" the Internet has altered his &ental habits .I no" have al&ost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish arti%le on the "eb or in print,$ he "rote earlier this year A pathologist "ho has long been on the )a%ulty o) the ;niversity o) 0i%higan 0edi%al !%hool, 5ried&an elaborated on his %o&&ent in a telephone %onversation "ith &e 'is thin+ing, he said, has ta+en on a .sta%%ato$ 7uality, re)le%ting the "ay he 7ui%+ly s%ans short passages o) te4t )ro& &any sour%es online .I %an,t read War and Peace any&ore,$ he ad&itted .I,ve lost the ability to do that 8ven a blog post o) &ore than three or )our paragraphs is too &u%h to absorb I s+i& it $ Ane%dotes alone don,t prove &u%h And "e still a"ait the long-ter& neurologi%al and psy%hologi%al e4peri&ents that "ill provide a de)initive pi%ture o) ho" Internet use a))e%ts %ognition But a re%ently published study o) online resear%h habits , %ondu%ted by s%holars )ro& ;niversity >ollege (ondon, suggests that "e &ay "ell be in the &idst o) a sea %hange in the "ay "e read and thin+ As part o) the )ive-year resear%h progra&, the s%holars e4a&ined %o&puter logs do%u&enting the behavior o) visitors to t"o popular resear%h sites, one operated by the British (ibrary and one by a ; * edu%ational %onsortiu&, that provide a%%ess to 9ournal arti%les, e-boo+s, and other sour%es o) "ritten in)or&ation 2hey )ound that people using the sites e4hibited .a )or& o) s+i&&ing a%tivity,$ hopping )ro& one sour%e to another and rarely returning to any sour%e they,d already visited 2hey typi%ally read no &ore than one or t"o pages o) an arti%le or boo+ be)ore they "ould .boun%e$ out to another site !o&eti&es they,d save a

long arti%le, but there,s no eviden%e that they ever "ent ba%+ and a%tually read it 2he authors o) the study reportB It is %lear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense< indeed there are signs that ne" )or&s o) .reading$ are e&erging as users .po"er bro"se$ horiContally through titles, %ontents pages and abstra%ts going )or 7ui%+ "ins It al&ost see&s that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense 2han+s to the ubi7uity o) te4t on the Internet, not to &ention the popularity o) te4t-&essaging on %ell phones, "e &ay "ell be reading &ore today than "e did in the ?@F0s or ?@80s, "hen television "as our &ediu& o) %hoi%e But it,s a di))erent +ind o) reading, and behind it lies a di))erent +ind o) thin+ing1perhaps even a ne" sense o) the sel) .We are not only what "e read,$ says 0aryanne Wol), a develop&ental psy%hologist at 2u)ts ;niversity and the author o) Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain .We are how "e read $ Wol) "orries that the style o) reading pro&oted by the 3et, a style that puts .e))i%ien%y$ and .i&&edia%y$ above all else, &ay be "ea+ening our %apa%ity )or the +ind o) deep reading that e&erged "hen an earlier te%hnology, the printing press, &ade long and %o&ple4 "or+s o) prose %o&&onpla%e When "e read online, she says, "e tend to be%o&e .&ere de%oders o) in)or&ation $ /ur ability to interpret te4t, to &a+e the ri%h &ental %onne%tions that )or& "hen "e read deeply and "ithout distra%tion, re&ains largely disengaged 6eading, e4plains Wol), is not an instin%tive s+ill )or hu&an beings It,s not et%hed into our genes the "ay spee%h is We have to tea%h our &inds ho" to translate the sy&boli% %hara%ters "e see into the language "e understand And the &edia or other te%hnologies "e use in learning and pra%ti%ing the %ra)t o) reading play an i&portant part in shaping the neural %ir%uits inside our brains 84peri&ents de&onstrate that readers o) ideogra&s, su%h as the >hinese, develop a &ental %ir%uitry )or reading that is very di))erent )ro& the %ir%uitry )ound in those o) us "hose "ritten language e&ploys an alphabet 2he variations e4tend a%ross &any regions o) the brain, in%luding those that govern su%h essential %ognitive )un%tions as &e&ory and the interpretation o) visual and auditory sti&uli We %an e4pe%t as "ell that the %ir%uits "oven by our use o) the 3et "ill be di))erent )ro& those "oven by our reading o) boo+s and other printed "or+s !o&eti&e in ?882, 5riedri%h 3ietCs%he bought a type"riter1a 0alling-'ansen Writing Ball, to be pre%ise 'is vision "as )ailing, and +eeping his eyes )o%used on a page had be%o&e e4hausting and pain)ul, o)ten bringing on %rushing heada%hes 'e had been )or%ed to %urtail his "riting, and he )eared that he "ould soon have to give it up 2he type"riter res%ued hi&, at least )or a ti&e /n%e he had &astered tou%h-typing, he "as able to "rite "ith his eyes %losed, using only the tips o) his )ingers Words %ould on%e again )lo" )ro& his &ind to the page But the &a%hine had a subtler e))e%t on his "or+ /ne o) 3ietCs%he,s )riends, a %o&poser, noti%ed a %hange in the style o) his "riting 'is already terse prose had be%o&e even tighter, &ore telegraphi% .Gerhaps you "ill through this instru&ent even ta+e to a ne" idio&,$ the )riend "rote in a letter, noting that, in his o"n "or+, his .Hthoughts, in &usi% and language o)ten depend on the 7uality o) pen and paper $ Also see: (iving With a >o&puter :July ?@82=

"2he pro%ess "or+s this "ay When I sit do"n to "rite a letter or start the )irst dra)t o) an arti%le, I si&ply type on the +eyboard and the "ords appear on the s%reen " By Ja&es 5allo"s .Iou are right,$ 3ietCs%he replied, .our "riting e7uip&ent ta+es part in the )or&ing o) our thoughts $ ;nder the s"ay o) the &a%hine, "rites the Ger&an &edia s%holar 5riedri%h A *ittler , 3ietCs%he,s prose .%hanged )ro& argu&ents to aphoris&s, )ro& thoughts to puns, )ro& rhetori% to telegra& style $ 2he hu&an brain is al&ost in)initely &alleable Geople used to thin+ that our &ental &esh"or+, the dense %onne%tions )or&ed a&ong the ?00 billion or so neurons inside our s+ulls, "as largely )i4ed by the ti&e "e rea%hed adulthood But brain resear%hers have dis%overed that that,s not the %ase Ja&es /lds, a pro)essor o) neuros%ien%e "ho dire%ts the *rasno" Institute )or Advan%ed !tudy at George 0ason ;niversity, says that even the adult &ind .is very plasti% $ 3erve %ells routinely brea+ old %onne%tions and )or& ne" ones .2he brain,$ a%%ording to /lds, .has the ability to reprogra& itsel) on the )ly, altering the "ay it )un%tions $ As "e use "hat the so%iologist Daniel Bell has %alled our .intelle%tual te%hnologies$1 the tools that e4tend our &ental rather than our physi%al %apa%ities1"e inevitably begin to ta+e on the 7ualities o) those te%hnologies 2he &e%hani%al %lo%+, "hi%h %a&e into %o&&on use in the ?Jth %entury, provides a %o&pelling e4a&ple In Technics and i!i"i#ation, the historian and %ultural %riti% (e"is 0u&)ord des%ribed ho" the %lo%+ .disasso%iated ti&e )ro& hu&an events and helped %reate the belie) in an independent "orld o) &athe&ati%ally &easurable se7uen%es $ 2he .abstra%t )ra&e"or+ o) divided ti&e$ be%a&e .the point o) re)eren%e )or both a%tion and thought $ 2he %lo%+,s &ethodi%al ti%+ing helped bring into being the s%ienti)i% &ind and the s%ienti)i% &an But it also too+ so&ething a"ay As the late 0I2 %o&puter s%ientist Joseph WeiCenbau& observed in his ?@FA boo+, o$puter Power and %u$an Reason: &ro$ 'udg$ent to a"cu"ation, the %on%eption o) the "orld that e&erged )ro& the "idespread use o) ti&e+eeping instru&ents .re&ains an i&poverished version o) the older one, )or it rests on a re9e%tion o) those dire%t e4perien%es that )or&ed the basis )or, and indeed %onstituted, the old reality $ In de%iding "hen to eat, to "or+, to sleep, to rise, "e stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the %lo%+ 2he pro%ess o) adapting to ne" intelle%tual te%hnologies is re)le%ted in the %hanging &etaphors "e use to e4plain ourselves to ourselves When the &e%hani%al %lo%+ arrived, people began thin+ing o) their brains as operating .li+e %lo%+"or+ $ 2oday, in the age o) so)t"are, "e have %o&e to thin+ o) the& as operating .li+e %o&puters $ But the %hanges, neuros%ien%e tells us, go &u%h deeper than &etaphor 2han+s to our brain,s plasti%ity, the adaptation o%%urs also at a biologi%al level 2he Internet pro&ises to have parti%ularly )ar-rea%hing e))e%ts on %ognition In a paper published in ?@KA, the British &athe&ati%ian Alan 2uring proved that a digital %o&puter, "hi%h at the ti&e e4isted only as a theoreti%al &a%hine, %ould be progra&&ed to per)or& the )un%tion o) any other in)or&ation-pro%essing devi%e And that,s "hat "e,re seeing today 2he Internet, an i&&easurably po"er)ul %o&puting syste&, is subsu&ing &ost o) our other intelle%tual te%hnologies It,s be%o&ing our &ap and our %lo%+, our printing press and our type"riter, our %al%ulator and our telephone, and our radio and 2L When the 3et absorbs a &ediu&, that &ediu& is re-%reated in the 3et,s i&age It in9e%ts the &ediu&,s %ontent "ith hyperlin+s, blin+ing ads, and other digital ge"ga"s, and it

surrounds the %ontent "ith the %ontent o) all the other &edia it has absorbed A ne" e-&ail &essage, )or instan%e, &ay announ%e its arrival as "e,re glan%ing over the latest headlines at a ne"spaper,s site 2he result is to s%atter our attention and di))use our %on%entration 2he 3et,s in)luen%e doesn,t end at the edges o) a %o&puter s%reen, either As people,s &inds be%o&e attuned to the %raCy 7uilt o) Internet &edia, traditional &edia have to adapt to the audien%e,s ne" e4pe%tations 2elevision progra&s add te4t %ra"ls and pop-up ads, and &agaCines and ne"spapers shorten their arti%les, introdu%e %apsule su&&aries, and %ro"d their pages "ith easy-to-bro"se in)o-snippets When, in 0ar%h o) this year, The(ew )or* Ti$es de%ided to devote the se%ond and third pages o) every edition to arti%le abstra%ts , its design dire%tor, 2o& Bod+in, e4plained that the .short%uts$ "ould give harried readers a 7ui%+ .taste$ o) the day,s ne"s, sparing the& the .less e))i%ient$ &ethod o) a%tually turning the pages and reading the arti%les /ld &edia have little %hoi%e but to play by the ne"-&edia rules 3ever has a %o&&uni%ations syste& played so &any roles in our lives1or e4erted su%h broad in)luen%e over our thoughts1as the Internet does today Iet, )or all that,s been "ritten about the 3et, there,s been little %onsideration o) ho", e4a%tly, it,s reprogra&&ing us 2he 3et,s intelle%tual ethi% re&ains obs%ure About the sa&e ti&e that 3ietCs%he started using his type"riter, an earnest young &an na&ed 5rederi%+ Winslo" 2aylor %arried a stop"at%h into the 0idvale !teel plant in Ghiladelphia and began a histori% series o) e4peri&ents ai&ed at i&proving the e))i%ien%y o) the plant,s &a%hinists With the approval o) 0idvale,s o"ners, he re%ruited a group o) )a%tory hands, set the& to "or+ on various &etal"or+ing &a%hines, and re%orded and ti&ed their every &ove&ent as "ell as the operations o) the &a%hines By brea+ing do"n every 9ob into a se7uen%e o) s&all, dis%rete steps and then testing di))erent "ays o) per)or&ing ea%h one, 2aylor %reated a set o) pre%ise instru%tions1an .algorith&,$ "e &ight say today1)or ho" ea%h "or+er should "or+ 0idvale,s e&ployees gru&bled about the stri%t ne" regi&e, %lai&ing that it turned the& into little &ore than auto&atons, but the )a%tory,s produ%tivity soared 0ore than a hundred years a)ter the invention o) the stea& engine, the Industrial 6evolution had at last )ound its philosophy and its philosopher 2aylor,s tight industrial %horeography1his .syste&,$ as he li+ed to %all it1"as e&bra%ed by &anu)a%turers throughout the %ountry and, in ti&e, around the "orld !ee+ing &a4i&u& speed, &a4i&u& e))i%ien%y, and &a4i&u& output, )a%tory o"ners used ti&e-and-&otion studies to organiCe their "or+ and %on)igure the 9obs o) their "or+ers 2he goal, as 2aylor de)ined it in his %elebrated ?@?? treatise, The Princip"es of Scientific +anage$ent, "as to identi)y and adopt, )or every 9ob, the .one best &ethod$ o) "or+ and thereby to e))e%t .the gradual substitution o) s%ien%e )or rule o) thu&b throughout the &e%hani% arts $ /n%e his syste& "as applied to all a%ts o) &anual labor, 2aylor assured his )ollo"ers, it "ould bring about a restru%turing not only o) industry but o) so%iety, %reating a utopia o) per)e%t e))i%ien%y .In the past the &an has been )irst,$ he de%lared< .in the )uture the syste& &ust be )irst $ 2aylor,s syste& is still very &u%h "ith us< it re&ains the ethi% o) industrial &anu)a%turing And no", than+s to the gro"ing po"er that %o&puter engineers and so)t"are %oders "ield over our intelle%tual lives, 2aylor,s ethi% is beginning to govern the real& o) the &ind as "ell 2he Internet is a &a%hine designed )or the e))i%ient and auto&ated %olle%tion, trans&ission, and &anipulation o) in)or&ation, and its legions o) progra&&ers are intent on )inding the .one best &ethod$1the per)e%t algorith&1to

%arry out every &ental &ove&ent o) "hat "e,ve %o&e to des%ribe as .+no"ledge "or+ $ Google,s head7uarters, in 0ountain Lie", >ali)ornia1the Googleple41is the Internet,s high %hur%h, and the religion pra%ti%ed inside its "alls is 2ayloris& Google, says its %hie) e4e%utive, 8ri% !%h&idt, is .a %o&pany that,s )ounded around the s%ien%e o) &easure&ent,$ and it is striving to .syste&atiCe everything$ it does Dra"ing on the terabytes o) behavioral data it %olle%ts through its sear%h engine and other sites, it %arries out thousands o) e4peri&ents a day, a%%ording to the %ar!ard Business Re!iew, and it uses the results to re)ine the algorith&s that in%reasingly %ontrol ho" people )ind in)or&ation and e4tra%t &eaning )ro& it What 2aylor did )or the "or+ o) the hand, Google is doing )or the "or+ o) the &ind 2he %o&pany has de%lared that its &ission is .to organiCe the "orld,s in)or&ation and &a+e it universally a%%essible and use)ul $ It see+s to develop .the per)e%t sear%h engine,$ "hi%h it de)ines as so&ething that .understands e4a%tly "hat you &ean and gives you ba%+ e4a%tly "hat you "ant $ In Google,s vie", in)or&ation is a +ind o) %o&&odity, a utilitarian resour%e that %an be &ined and pro%essed "ith industrial e))i%ien%y 2he &ore pie%es o) in)or&ation "e %an .a%%ess$ and the )aster "e %an e4tra%t their gist, the &ore produ%tive "e be%o&e as thin+ers Where does it end# !ergey Brin and (arry Gage, the gi)ted young &en "ho )ounded Google "hile pursuing do%toral degrees in %o&puter s%ien%e at !tan)ord, spea+ )re7uently o) their desire to turn their sear%h engine into an arti)i%ial intelligen%e, a 'A(-li+e &a%hine that &ight be %onne%ted dire%tly to our brains .2he ulti&ate sear%h engine is so&ething as s&art as people1or s&arter,$ Gage said in a spee%h a )e" years ba%+ .5or us, "or+ing on sear%h is a "ay to "or+ on arti)i%ial intelligen%e $ In a 200J intervie" "ith (ewswee*, Brin said, .>ertainly i) you had all the "orld,s in)or&ation dire%tly atta%hed to your brain, or an arti)i%ial brain that "as s&arter than your brain, you,d be better o)) $ (ast year, Gage told a %onvention o) s%ientists that Google is .really trying to build arti)i%ial intelligen%e and to do it on a large s%ale $ !u%h an a&bition is a natural one, even an ad&irable one, )or a pair o) &ath "hiCCes "ith vast 7uantities o) %ash at their disposal and a s&all ar&y o) %o&puter s%ientists in their e&ploy A )unda&entally s%ienti)i% enterprise, Google is &otivated by a desire to use te%hnology, in 8ri% !%h&idt,s "ords, .to solve proble&s that have never been solved be)ore,$ and arti)i%ial intelligen%e is the hardest proble& out there Why "ouldn,t Brin and Gage "ant to be the ones to %ra%+ it# !till, their easy assu&ption that "e,d all .be better o))$ i) our brains "ere supple&ented, or even repla%ed, by an arti)i%ial intelligen%e is unsettling It suggests a belie) that intelligen%e is the output o) a &e%hani%al pro%ess, a series o) dis%rete steps that %an be isolated, &easured, and opti&iCed In Google,s "orld, the "orld "e enter "hen "e go online, there,s little pla%e )or the )uCCiness o) %onte&plation A&biguity is not an opening )or insight but a bug to be )i4ed 2he hu&an brain is 9ust an outdated %o&puter that needs a )aster pro%essor and a bigger hard drive 2he idea that our &inds should operate as high-speed data-pro%essing &a%hines is not only built into the "or+ings o) the Internet, it is the net"or+,s reigning business &odel as "ell 2he )aster "e sur) a%ross the Web1the &ore lin+s "e %li%+ and pages "e vie" 1the &ore opportunities Google and other %o&panies gain to %olle%t in)or&ation about us and to )eed us advertise&ents 0ost o) the proprietors o) the %o&&er%ial Internet have a )inan%ial sta+e in %olle%ting the %ru&bs o) data "e leave behind as "e )lit )ro& lin+ to lin+1the &ore %ru&bs, the better 2he last thing these %o&panies "ant is to

en%ourage leisurely reading or slo", %on%entrated thought It,s in their e%ono&i% interest to drive us to distra%tion 0aybe I,& 9ust a "orry"art Just as there,s a tenden%y to glori)y te%hnologi%al progress, there,s a %ountertenden%y to e4pe%t the "orst o) every ne" tool or &a%hine In Glato,s Phaedrus, !o%rates be&oaned the develop&ent o) "riting 'e )eared that, as people %a&e to rely on the "ritten "ord as a substitute )or the +no"ledge they used to %arry inside their heads, they "ould, in the "ords o) one o) the dialogue,s %hara%ters, .%ease to e4er%ise their &e&ory and be%o&e )orget)ul $ And be%ause they "ould be able to .re%eive a 7uantity o) in)or&ation "ithout proper instru%tion,$ they "ould .be thought very +no"ledgeable "hen they are )or the &ost part 7uite ignorant $ 2hey "ould be .)illed "ith the %on%eit o) "isdo& instead o) real "isdo& $ !o%rates "asn,t "rong1the ne" te%hnology did o)ten have the e))e%ts he )eared1but he "as shortsighted 'e %ouldn,t )oresee the &any "ays that "riting and reading "ould serve to spread in)or&ation, spur )resh ideas, and e4pand hu&an +no"ledge :i) not "isdo&= 2he arrival o) Gutenberg,s printing press, in the ?Mth %entury, set o)) another round o) teeth gnashing 2he Italian hu&anist 'ieroni&o !7uar%ia)i%o "orried that the easy availability o) boo+s "ould lead to intelle%tual laCiness, &a+ing &en .less studious$ and "ea+ening their &inds /thers argued that %heaply printed boo+s and broadsheets "ould under&ine religious authority, de&ean the "or+ o) s%holars and s%ribes, and spread sedition and debau%hery As 3e" Ior+ ;niversity pro)essor >lay !hir+y notes, .0ost o) the argu&ents &ade against the printing press "ere %orre%t, even pres%ient $ But, again, the doo&sayers "ere unable to i&agine the &yriad blessings that the printed "ord "ould deliver !o, yes, you should be s+epti%al o) &y s+epti%is& Gerhaps those "ho dis&iss %riti%s o) the Internet as (uddites or nostalgists "ill be proved %orre%t, and )ro& our hypera%tive, data-sto+ed &inds "ill spring a golden age o) intelle%tual dis%overy and universal "isdo& 2hen again, the 3et isn,t the alphabet, and although it &ay repla%e the printing press, it produ%es so&ething altogether di))erent 2he +ind o) deep reading that a se7uen%e o) printed pages pro&otes is valuable not 9ust )or the +no"ledge "e a%7uire )ro& the author,s "ords but )or the intelle%tual vibrations those "ords set o)) "ithin our o"n &inds In the 7uiet spa%es opened up by the sustained, undistra%ted reading o) a boo+, or by any other a%t o) %onte&plation, )or that &atter, "e &a+e our o"n asso%iations, dra" our o"n in)eren%es and analogies, )oster our o"n ideas Deep reading, as 0aryanne Wol) argues, is indistinguishable )ro& deep thin+ing I) "e lose those 7uiet spa%es, or )ill the& up "ith .%ontent,$ "e "ill sa%ri)i%e so&ething i&portant not only in our selves but in our %ulture In a re%ent essay, the play"right 6i%hard 5ore&an elo7uently des%ribed "hat,s at sta+eB I %o&e )ro& a tradition o) Western %ulture, in "hi%h the ideal :&y ideal= "as the %o&ple4, dense and .%athedral-li+e$ stru%ture o) the highly edu%ated and arti%ulate personality1a &an or "o&an "ho %arried inside the&selves a personally %onstru%ted and uni7ue version o) the entire heritage o) the West DBut no"E I see "ithin us all :&ysel) in%luded= the repla%e&ent o) %o&ple4 inner density "ith a ne" +ind o) sel)1 evolving under the pressure o) in)or&ation overload and the te%hnology o) the .instantly available $ As "e are drained o) our .inner repertory o) dense %ultural inheritan%e,$ 5ore&an %on%luded, "e ris+ turning into .Hpan%a+e people,1spread "ide and thin as "e %onne%t "ith that vast net"or+ o) in)or&ation a%%essed by the &ere tou%h o) a button $

I,& haunted by that s%ene in 2001 What &a+es it so poignant, and so "eird, is the %o&puter,s e&otional response to the disasse&bly o) its &indB its despair as one %ir%uit a)ter another goes dar+, its %hildli+e pleading "ith the astronaut1.I %an )eel it I %an )eel it I,& a)raid$1and its )inal reversion to "hat %an only be %alled a state o) inno%en%e 'A(,s outpouring o) )eeling %ontrasts "ith the e&otionlessness that %hara%teriCes the hu&an )igures in the )il&, "ho go about their business "ith an al&ost roboti% e))i%ien%y 2heir thoughts and a%tions )eel s%ripted, as i) they,re )ollo"ing the steps o) an algorith& In the "orld o) 2001, people have be%o&e so &a%hineli+e that the &ost hu&an %hara%ter turns out to be a &a%hine 2hat,s the essen%e o) *ubri%+,s dar+ prophe%yB as "e %o&e to rely on %o&puters to &ediate our understanding o) the "orld, it is our o"n intelligen%e that )lattens into arti)i%ial intelligen%e 2his arti%le available online atB httpB//""" theatlanti% %o&/&agaCine/ar%hive/2008/0F/is-google-&a+ing-us-stupid/A8A8 /