Thursday, October 31, 2013

tools that change the way we think

Please read the following passage and respond to the questions below. Write your answers in a comment to this post. Then, cut/paste both the passage and your thoughts to your own blog in a post entitled, "Tools That Change the Way We Think."

"Back in 2004, I asked [Google founders] Page and Brin what they saw as the future of Google search. 'It will be included in people's brains,' said Page. 'When you think about something and don't really know much about it, you will automatically get information.'

'That's true,' said Brin. 'Ultimately I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. Right now you go into your computer and type a phrase, but you can imagine that it could be easier in the future, that you can have just devices you talk into, or you can have computers that pay attention to what's going on around them and suggest useful information.'

'Somebody introduces themselves to you, and your watch goes to your web page,' said Page. 'Or if you met this person two years ago, this is what they said to you... Eventually you'll have the implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the answer."

-From In the Plex by Steven Levy (p.67)


Answer this not-so-simple question: How does use of the Internet, media, and/or technology change the way you think? Focus on your memory, your ability to concentrate, your sense of time and priorities, and the subjects/topics that interest you most. If you find "thinking about your thinking" difficult to assess, try the following strategies: compare yourself with older people who did most of their formal learning before smart phones and 2.0 existed; compare yourself with contemporaries who don't use those tools much today; read up on what education leaders and thinkers have to say about generational differences in thinking (and remember to cite your sources).

24 comments:

  1. The media and technology can change the way someone thinks in the sense that many people don't have the work ethic and or drive like they used to, instead majority of us rely on our "precious" smart phones and what not to solve our problems, to answer our questions, to give us something instantly for it is so easy. Technology/media can have its advantages and disadvantages however we as a whole must know how to FIND that balance and MANAGE that balance. Control the technology don't let it control you.

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  2. The way we learn and work now may be more efficient than ever, but those lessons don't necessarily stick as well as they used to. People are replacing their own thoughts and intuition with findings on google and other sources as our primary views on the world. Filter bubbles are taking the openness out of the world. Instead of a vast array of seemingly unlimited views on something, technology is taking the humanity out of exploration. We as a generation are ushering a world dependent on technology, instead of using trial and error and finding things out for yourself. Technology is the best and worst thing to happen to us, so it is up to us as a generation to control how we see the internet.

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  3. Internet has completely changed the way people think now a days. The technology from today is like our cruches. Just liike the TED talk, google thinks for us now, a machine judges what we like by what we first click on our browser. The technology does so much for us and makes things so much easier in just about everything we do. We live in a system of where Robots control just about everything. But how to balance out what we ourselves have control over and what we let control us without knowing. The new founding of the NSA! I did not know that existed or the 12 year old boy who was brilliant at hacking the government system just to get codes for his games! It is good and bad, i know when i use technology it can be time consuming and my train of thought is somewhere else than my own. It depends on what im doing as well. Confrontation-communication is a huge notice of negative effect that technology has impacted on us. We use texting, email, skype or whatever to communicate through whether than face to face. There are so many factor's that go into my opinion of technology and the internet but I wonder if I am entitled to my opinion if not the opinion of my knowledge coming from what i have learned as to be normal or not.

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  4. I think the use of technology changes the way people think very much. I mean when i do research papers rarely do i go out to a library (do those even exist anymore) i just fine multiple online resources and use all of those. I think it can both help people get something done. But also slow them down alot. I mean like right now im on tumblr and its taken 15 minutes to type this much :o

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  5. Technology has always and will always be a double edged sword. It makes learning new things easier and faster. But the longer people rely on technology of any kind the worse it will be in the future. Being to reliant on anything is negative to a certain point. I also don't like how in the article the co-founder of Google Brin said how in the future Google could augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. At first,if this were to happen it would be cool and convenient. But at what point would your thoughts be fazed out. I'd rather rely on my own thoughts and my own memories and understandings of anything. Its a better way for me to learn and I like learning about new things that interest me. I will use technology in order to find things out and learn about new things. That is how we in today's era learn. I just don't like the whole 'augment' part of the article. It would be like if we became more machine than man. Technology is great and I and the rest of society will continue to use it. However, technology of every kind will not be there one day, then what happens.

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  6. The internet and modern technology have greatly modified the proses in which we as a society gather and distribute information. Only a few decades ago all of our information was either in a form of literature or in oral traditions. With the internet we all thought we would be able to access all information quicker and more efficiently. In most cases this was seen to be true, however with modern algorithms acting as "gate keepers" the search engines that we use filter out information that the system believes we are not looking for. With many in our society relying upon the internet as our source for information we are blinding ourselves to vast amounts of information that exists outside of the WWW. For instance life stories from those around us such as our family members, friends, and even coworkers are likely to not exist on the internet. I myself am a member of the Drumand clan, a Scottish clan, which I never would have known even existed if neither my father or my grandfather told me that I was a member of the clan. Don't misunderstand my intent of this post, the internet is a great tool, but if we don't search in places other than the internet for our information we will become closed minded, never seeking out a better solution. If we don't carry on any of our oral heritage it will be forgotten.

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  7. This is just creepy. I like personalizing stuff, but this just takes it too far. If this ever happens people will begin to rely on the internet instead of their own thinking. They won't need to memorize anything because they will have it documented already. People are already physically lazy and it seems all this new technology is making people mentally lazy. If we continue on this path, it won't be long before we look and live like the people in, "Walle".

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  8. I think that technology and media changes the way that people think, because its so easy to get answers and ideas from online resources instead of just using our own imaginations and brains to solve problems. People 50 years ago didnt have the resources that this generation does, and i feel that they are much smarter than us because they actually had to use their knowledge to get through life, instead of typing in a simple phrase and having the answer right there at your fingertips. I also believe that this generation has fallen so deeply into the thought of "I dont know how people survived without technology" because they use technology as a clutch because its right in front of us, handed on a silver platter. I have no room to talk because i use the internet for just about everything, but i do think that our knowledge and thinking would be a lot better if we didnt rely so much on technology and the media.

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  9. Technology has advanced exponentially throughout the last 20 years. It has become the greatest learning source that's ever existed. Because of this, the internet is a resource that's becoming commonly used by the people. This is both a positive thing and a negative thing. It's a positive thing because we will all have the exact information as everyone else. Then, just like everything else when you abuse it, it can become a negative thing. You begin to be reliant on this source to the point where you can't overcome obstacles with your own knowledge.

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  10. Avid users of social media sites like Facebook seem to lack many self-developed opinions. With the filter bubble Ted talk fresh at mind, Facebook will show you more of what they think you agree with and therefore you never get the other side of the coin. Technology has created so many distractions that I do not believe we learn as effectively as we use to. Instead of reading books in our spare time, the average American watches 6 hours of television daily. This time could be spent reinforcing ideas previously learned earlier in the day or actually learning something new on your own. A positive that we have gotten out of technological advances is the fact that so many resources are readily available, we just need to find the motivation to reach out and grab them.

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  11. Technology and the internet are amazing tools, but they are also a big distraction. everyone has a smartphone, iPod, or access to the internet so we are always distracted; everything is literally at our fingerprints. Like Kayla said, this generation relies way too much on technology, social media, and the internet. We don't really do much for ourselves to the point where we thing about things ourselves and use our knowledge and imagination.We think every answer is at our fingerprints, But Not everything as we think. We think that when we Google something EVERYTHING pops up, but it doesn't. Watching the Ted talk video was really eye opening because I knew that was happening, but it hadn't really hit me. People think they can just post whatever they want on the internet and that it won't matter, but it does. This generation and every future generation would be so much better off if we didn't rely so much on the internet and technology, I feel like people would be smarter because to most people these things are a distraction. It should be a helpful resource but sadly that is not the case most of the time.

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  12. When reaching the topic of technology I do think that it has a big influence on me. Now with all this technology I have been led to believe that I do not have to work hard to achieve things, that everything I could ever need is within arms reach. If we were to go back 50 years we would see that you truly had to work for everything, the value of hard work and the value of a dollar still existed back then. Back then the average person did not have access to everything at their fingertips like we do, they had to seriously look for sources in order to find what they are looking for. Now this is also why we are called the lazy generation, everything is handed to us and we never truly had to work for anything. That's how technology changes our thoughts.

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    1. If used properly, the Internet can be an amazing learning tool. In the push-button society that we live in, almost everyone has unhampered access to a truly vast amount of information via the Internet. Those who are willing and able need only to tap into that information in order to learn more rapidly than was ever possible in previous eras. While this can trivialize certain tasks, possibly diminishing problem solving skills, it can also connect people with ideas that never would have come to their attention otherwise. So, of course, as with everything, there are pros and cons to the Internet (in terms of learning). I do feel, though, that the Internet is collectively beneficial in said area. Other components of our current social infrastructure--not so much. Take media, for example. Any integrity that the media once had is long gone in my eyes. I can either read a bunch of exploitative, one-sided propaganda, or I can read about Justin Beiber getting a new cell phone. There isn't much to be found in between without a thorough search. Regardless, I do feel that, in general, technology is pushing us in a positive direction. Funny--only a few months ago, I had no faith whatsoever in humanity and I NEVER would've put forth such an optimistic statement. Listening to Dr. Preston's class lectures has really changed my perspective and, now that I'm viewing things in a more positive light, I am able to have a small amount of hope despite the overwhelming mass of problems with our species and our civilization.

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  14. Technology is always changing.. I honesty wouldn't be surprised if this sort of device is made within the next ten years.. Something small that you can carry in your poket.. Or something like a watch that you can always wear that regonizes faces of people that you have talked to before and there information pops up. Or when you think of something and don't really understand it your device will pull up something that will help you better and further understand it more. Technology is just advancing so much now. It's crazy how much information we have access to and how easy it is to get. It just yes easier and easier. Soon I'm positive we won't even have to type out what we want to know. Something will just read our mind and get on it.
    Before I had a smart phone, before there was even such thing as a smart phone. I was always clueless about SO much because I didn't always have access to the internet. So I wasn't always able to look up things I was curious about. And now I'm a swipe, push, button, and touch away from knowing anything I want. Like right now I'm using my smart phone to type this and post it. I am looking forward to the things that will be made in the future.

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  15. I think that the Internet has changed the way I think by enabling me to get information that I would probably never know. (even with filter bubbles) However, I think that in a way, it has made me less responsible and kind of unorganized. For example, if I have a homework assignment that I can use the Internet to help me with it, I would do that assignment last because I have Internet in my phone so I can do it during school. Also, I think that in a way I took a step forward and two steps back ever since I started to rely on the Internet so much.

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  16. The biggest problem I have with this is that ONE, they can pretty much CONTROL OUR BRAINS ! and TWO we basically no longer Learn for ourselves and are just going to believe what ever is told to us. Now I haven't even addressed the case of viruses or other attacks by enemies. I don't think that people understand that...... (drum roll) IT IS OKAY IF SOME TECHNOLOGICAL IDEAS ARE NOT ACTUALLY DONE !

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  17. In the 21st century technology has been a big factor in our lives. Now a days some of us even post our homework on the internet for the whole world to see instead of writing it on a piece of paper for only the teacher to see. The internet has given us an opportunity to not be ignorant about what is going on in the world in real time. This can change the way we think. For instance if you want to know a little more about something, you can search it up but come across many different view points on the topic. An example of this is 911. The original story is that terrorist from al-qaeda hijacked four different planes, two crashing into the world trade center, one crashing into the Pentagon, and the other one crashing into a field nearby Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Other sources can also contain conspiracy theories, like the theory of 911 being an inside job that was intended for the U.S. to go to war with Iraq. This can lead people to believe different things or completely change their mind on how they viewed the topic.

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  18. I think the internet has changed the way I think by getting information to me faster. Information gets to me fast and it's usually the information I want even with the personalized search results. In theory it's supposed to make mine and everyone else's life easier and it does but in a way it is hurting us in the long run. Yes it is easy to just google whatever it is you want to find or learn about but what if you just click the first link and it's not a credible source? It also hurts our learning abilities because we no longer have to do research on a specific thing when we can just type it into a search engine and get whatever it is we need. There's no more going to the library to read and search for the information you want, people need to be spoon fed their information. I think it is very convenient and makes our lives easier at the moment but with the filter bubbles it is limiting the amount of information we receive. The technology is an amazing idea but it is also scary because we will eventually just believe everything Google tells us to believe.

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  19. The internet may change a person thinks because it is easier to access information electronically but we must realize that some of the things that are found on the internet may not be neccessarily true. The media may change the way a person thinks because the media will try and tell you the negative part of the story and most likely wont consider even telling us of the outcome. The internet to me has become the biggest most advanced piece of technology and I cannot wait to see what our future has to offer. Yes, there may be some negative parts to the internet but we shouldn't focus on the negatives but more onto the positives.

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  20. You have access to all the information people have documented since people could write in the palm of your hand thanks to the Internet. Making an essay on how Ben Franklin created electricity would involve hours and hours reading and searching for the right book, but with the Internet you just search it and get answers within seconds. I also agree with what Erik has to say, the Internet is both positive and negative effects.

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  21. Access to infinite information, to have omniscience, is one of the most sought after possessions in our world. To be able to know every single known thing could, and probably will, change how we see information. "Knowledge is power", so the thought is, what would we become? Who would we then be? Comprehension of this future is difficult, and we alive today may never see it, but it is coming. An insurmountable about of knowledge will forever change not only our world, but how we interact with it.

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  22. The internet and all the devices the internet is available on make it easier for people not to stress on a question. Since nearly all the information in the world will soon be online, it will make everyone think less by making it fast to gain information without the use of concentration. The use of internet today is widely use and replaces the need for research from books and articles. I think that the generation that didn't have these resources work to reach this type of goal. They did the more extended research to help find ways for our future generations to be able to use technology as a way of gaining all the information we need.

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  23. The internet and media can change the way we think because it is easier to find. The internet has a vast pool of information in it whether some of it is true or some of it false. Same thing with the media. We can just turn on the TV on put it on the new channel. Propaganda is on the media and internet so they change the way we think so we can agree with who ever made it. The trick to having all this information at our fingertips is knowing what is credible and what is not. There is good things about this too like for example the generation now is exposed to different things that the older generation wasn't. Computers, internet, smart phones, etc. This allows the newer generation to multitask and get things done quick. It helps educational growth when put to good use.

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