Science writer Clive Thompson believes that technology makes us dumber
Article liked in the first place as the carrier of alternative views. I don't know how who is right in this matter, but to see his point of view was interesting. — approx. interpreter
Clive Thompson thinks that the use of, for example, Google is unlikely to have such a detrimental effect on our memory, as assumed in our time.
Mr. Thompson is a science and technology writer, author of "Smarter than You think: how technology is changing our minds for the better." Also, sometimes he writes for the new York times.
Based on the science in the book Thompson argues that the current transformation of society in the digital makes us smarter, and not Vice versa.
Under the cut is an edited version of an interview with Clive.
V. do You believe that technology makes us smarter?
A. Yes. I think we need to think more socially. I'm talking about the ability to take our thoughts out of my head and compare them with the thoughts of other people, and to do it publicly, it's really cool for the average person.
Q. In the book You're talking about quite a lot of memory. Whether we Supplement your memory with the help of computers or model it?
A. I would say that we are expanding it. When I started writing the book, I was really worried about the fact that you lose the ability to remember, working with Google. But the more I studied the mechanisms of our memory, the more I realized how much we already rely on other external sources — books, notes, etc., as well as other people. We are social thinkers, and remember we are socially, we use our colleagues, partners and friends to help us with the things they remember better than we do. And so they turn to us on other issues. Memory has always been social. Now we use search engines and computers to Supplement our knowledge.
V. also, you wrote about "ambient awareness". (Ambient awareness — I don't know if this term has a well-established translation in Russian language. Sociologists use this term to denote a new form of social awareness (the person and the information surrounding it in the social. networks, etc) — approx. interpreter.) What does that mean, really?
O. Ambient awareness is knowing what is happening in the lives of others — what they think what they are doing. All this is achieved by analysis of the small messages left by people online. Now we are able to combine parts and when all that is happening in the lives of others.
Q. But critics say that all this is just information noise. Is it not so?
O. Often it is really wrong, because critics point to slight tweets and talking about how they are trivial and stupid. But ambient awareness is the generalization to all people in the network, when you follow a person for a year or two. And then these little tweets are starting to make a difference. We use these tools for a long time and eventually produced a feeling similar extrasensory perception, allowing to assess the intellectual and emotional life moments of interest to us humans.
Q. You married Emily, Nussbaum, television criticism from "The New Yorker". Your home is a dump of iPods and smartphones?
O most Likely are not more than in any other family. A small feature can be that we are avid fans of electronic correspondence. Often when I work upstairs, and she, say, watching TV downstairs. And we can correspond so being in the same house, within a few hours.
Q. How do You control the amount of time that children spend looking at the screen?
A. I usually say that everything should be in moderation. This advice has not changed since ancient times. Kids can spend time behind the computer screens is amazing, if the session matched to their age. But this does not mean that they should spend all your time staring at the screen. For adults it's not good to spend all your time sitting in front of the computer. I'm talking about cognitive diversity of books, for example. If you're talking about the benefits of new technologies, it does not mean that the old things, such as reading, walking, writing with a pen and paper, become useless.
Q. You're talking about "the problem at the tip of the tongue" in Your book. (tip-of-the-tongue syndrome — derived from the expression "It's on the tip of my tongue", which corresponds to our "on the tip of my tongue" — approx. of an interpreter). What it is and how it is influenced by technology?
O Issue on the tip of my tongue — when people remember something, but need a computer or something else to find it. The problem is that our brains are generally bad show yourself in remembering details. We're good at remembering the meaning but not the details. One of the ways by which resolved this problem — helping other people. Now we have devices that also help to remember details.
Q. You are quite fanatical in regards to technology. If You could take only one technological thing on a desert island — what would it be?
O most Likely I would take a e-book loaded with a billion books. (Of course if I could charge it from the sun.) I'm honestly very glad that modern technology allows us to read many different books this way. That was the dream of H. G. wells and other science fiction that all knowledge could exist in a single device — as it is, in principle, and is now. But if I can't charge your electronics on the island, I probably would have taken penicillin.
Article based on information from habrahabr.ru
Clive Thompson thinks that the use of, for example, Google is unlikely to have such a detrimental effect on our memory, as assumed in our time.
Mr. Thompson is a science and technology writer, author of "Smarter than You think: how technology is changing our minds for the better." Also, sometimes he writes for the new York times.
Based on the science in the book Thompson argues that the current transformation of society in the digital makes us smarter, and not Vice versa.
Under the cut is an edited version of an interview with Clive.
V. do You believe that technology makes us smarter?
A. Yes. I think we need to think more socially. I'm talking about the ability to take our thoughts out of my head and compare them with the thoughts of other people, and to do it publicly, it's really cool for the average person.
Q. In the book You're talking about quite a lot of memory. Whether we Supplement your memory with the help of computers or model it?
A. I would say that we are expanding it. When I started writing the book, I was really worried about the fact that you lose the ability to remember, working with Google. But the more I studied the mechanisms of our memory, the more I realized how much we already rely on other external sources — books, notes, etc., as well as other people. We are social thinkers, and remember we are socially, we use our colleagues, partners and friends to help us with the things they remember better than we do. And so they turn to us on other issues. Memory has always been social. Now we use search engines and computers to Supplement our knowledge.
V. also, you wrote about "ambient awareness". (Ambient awareness — I don't know if this term has a well-established translation in Russian language. Sociologists use this term to denote a new form of social awareness (the person and the information surrounding it in the social. networks, etc) — approx. interpreter.) What does that mean, really?
O. Ambient awareness is knowing what is happening in the lives of others — what they think what they are doing. All this is achieved by analysis of the small messages left by people online. Now we are able to combine parts and when all that is happening in the lives of others.
Q. But critics say that all this is just information noise. Is it not so?
O. Often it is really wrong, because critics point to slight tweets and talking about how they are trivial and stupid. But ambient awareness is the generalization to all people in the network, when you follow a person for a year or two. And then these little tweets are starting to make a difference. We use these tools for a long time and eventually produced a feeling similar extrasensory perception, allowing to assess the intellectual and emotional life moments of interest to us humans.
Q. You married Emily, Nussbaum, television criticism from "The New Yorker". Your home is a dump of iPods and smartphones?
O most Likely are not more than in any other family. A small feature can be that we are avid fans of electronic correspondence. Often when I work upstairs, and she, say, watching TV downstairs. And we can correspond so being in the same house, within a few hours.
Q. How do You control the amount of time that children spend looking at the screen?
A. I usually say that everything should be in moderation. This advice has not changed since ancient times. Kids can spend time behind the computer screens is amazing, if the session matched to their age. But this does not mean that they should spend all your time staring at the screen. For adults it's not good to spend all your time sitting in front of the computer. I'm talking about cognitive diversity of books, for example. If you're talking about the benefits of new technologies, it does not mean that the old things, such as reading, walking, writing with a pen and paper, become useless.
Q. You're talking about "the problem at the tip of the tongue" in Your book. (tip-of-the-tongue syndrome — derived from the expression "It's on the tip of my tongue", which corresponds to our "on the tip of my tongue" — approx. of an interpreter). What it is and how it is influenced by technology?
O Issue on the tip of my tongue — when people remember something, but need a computer or something else to find it. The problem is that our brains are generally bad show yourself in remembering details. We're good at remembering the meaning but not the details. One of the ways by which resolved this problem — helping other people. Now we have devices that also help to remember details.
Q. You are quite fanatical in regards to technology. If You could take only one technological thing on a desert island — what would it be?
O most Likely I would take a e-book loaded with a billion books. (Of course if I could charge it from the sun.) I'm honestly very glad that modern technology allows us to read many different books this way. That was the dream of H. G. wells and other science fiction that all knowledge could exist in a single device — as it is, in principle, and is now. But if I can't charge your electronics on the island, I probably would have taken penicillin.
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