“Get Smarter”, but not “Stupid.”
My initial reaction to reading my first essay about advancing technology this week, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, was one of fear, and even a slight bit of panic. I began to imagine machines, hyperlinks, blogs and news feeds, and even sinister robots conquering the world, and diminishing the power of the beautiful human mind's intelligence and intellect in the process.
Then, I read my second technology-centered essay. “Get Smarter” by Jamais Cascio, responded to the slightly frightening “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” Cascio, rather than condemning the incredible advancements our race has made with technology and supercomputers, praises and encourages it. He disagrees with Nicholas Carr's opinion that technology is negatively affected our brains. Cascio believes the new technology will make us smarter, more advanced, and more intelligent. He believes a new potential can be reached by continuing to explore and advance, and even by inventing some sort of “supercomputer” or equal human intelligence. He compares technological advancements to those in pharmacy. Although performance-enhancing substances have been the source of much conflict in the athletic world, Cascio proposes that the public view such drugs as not an unfair advantage, but as comparable to “getting a faster computer or a better education.” I agree in some sense with Cascio after reading his essay. Performance-enhancing drugs could be used in the same way as other tools, for example, feather-light racing shoes that enhance an Olympic sprinter's performance. Super-advancements in technology could be used in the same way, not as an unfair advantage, but as a tool.
However, some of Cascio's points about what the future could hold, I would not approve of. He writes “Sometimes, our augmentation assistants will handle basic interactions on our behalfs; that's okay, thought, because we'll increasingly see those assistants as extensions of ourselves.” The thought of some form of technology in the future being an extension of the human person frightens and intimidates me the same way the evident power of advancements in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” did. Some synthetic source, intruding on the human mind and even taking charge of some of its functions should not occur. The human being is unique in its individual personality, intellect, and intelligence. These qualities should not be altered or dependent on something so artificial, or even worse, replicated into something synthetic. If they become so, it is my fear disaster could strike, and everything that makes us unique and human could disappear gradually in the future.
Therefore, I believe there is a certain line that can not be crossed between Carr and Cascio. Technological advancements can be a beautiful and convenient thing. They can allow us to apply the best of our abilities, analyze problems, provide an incredible amount of information. However, when the human mind becomes dependent on technology, and no longer functions independently, we are getting too close to “stupid.”
