In “Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?: The Net's Impact on Our Minds and Future”, edited by John Brockman, 150 scientists, artists and other creative thinkers responded to that question and explained the impact that the Internet had on their lives and thinking.
In reading the short essays, some just one page and others four pages long, the reader sees through the eyes of the contributors. Some of them said, “Yes”, it has changed the way they think while others say “no.” Some look at the Internet as having a positive effect, while other say the effects has been negative.
What is important about the book is that, in the process, an individual reading the essays can begin to learn and explore the Internet’s collective consciousness interaction of the writers and compare it with their own transition.
Learning the Difference Between the Internet and the Web
In the introduction to “Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think”, W. Daniel Hills, physicist and computer scientist, writes that the Web is “…a wonderful resource for speeding up the retrieval and dissemination of information. He describes the Internet as the “…global network of interconnected computers that enables the Web.” He believes the Internet “… will have the greatest impact on who we are and how we think.”
Thinking Changes Using the Internet
Kevin Kelly, Editor-at-Large at Wired, writes that knowing that the Internet is there and "…has changed the way I think….I go looking, searching, asking, questioning, reacting to data, constructing notes, bookmarks, a trail, a start of making something mine.” He compares using the Internet to the passive consumption of TV and finds the Internet helps him to be more productive.
Nigel Goldenfled, physicist, maintains that his thinking is better, faster, cheaper and more evolvable because of the Internet. As a teacher, he says that he and his students work together well and the Internet helps them find “ sharp questions that drive the research and thinking infinitely faster than before.”
Discovering Whether the Internet Has Changed How the Individual Thinks
“Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think” is helpful to the reader in that in exploring how others think about the subject, it can provide insights into how the authors thinking changed (or not) and relate it to the experience of using the Internet for each person. Although many of the writers are considered some of the smartest people in the world, the essays are written in an easy to read and comprehend style.
John Brockman is the Founder of the nonprofit Edge Foundation and editor of Edge that is devoted to the discussion of cutting edge science.
Sources
- Brockman, John. Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? NY: Harper Perennial, 2011
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