|
Sensationalist headline aside, I don't think that the article was particularly luddite. It didn't seem to be making a value judgement. What bothers me is that the author seems to misunderstand Carr's position. It's not that the interwebz are making us stupid, it's that they are changing the way we think and perhaps causing us to lose skills that Carr (and many other people) finds valuable. This does not preclude the possibility that these changes may also have benefits. And he totally mis-represents Carr's view vis-a-vis Plato and books; while acknowledging that there could have been some loss in mnemonic skill, Carr definitely believes that the trade off was worth it in terms of the cognitive avenues that books opened up.
|