In
a topic-driven, well-developed paragraph, SUMMARIZE Chapter
Nine: Search, Memory.” Clearly identify Carr’s thesis and supporting arguments. Be specific. Use examples from the text in your response.
NOTE: After posting on the blog, open up the CANVAS assignment (by the same name) and DO copy and paste the URL address into the CANVAS "WEB URL" text box so that I have record of your submission on Canvas. Thanks.
Nine: Search, Memory.” Clearly identify Carr’s thesis and supporting arguments. Be specific. Use examples from the text in your response.
NOTE: After posting on the blog, open up the CANVAS assignment (by the same name) and DO copy and paste the URL address into the CANVAS "WEB URL" text box so that I have record of your submission on Canvas. Thanks.
In Chapter 9 of the book, “The Shallows,” Nicholas Carr expresses the importance of memory, then applies it to his research on what the internet is doing to our brains. He explains how the more and more we write our thoughts down and see others’ thoughts, as well, the less reliant we are on our own memory. Specifically, Carr states that “As people grew accustomed to writing down their thoughts and reading the thoughts others had written down, they became less dependent on the contents of their own memory” (177). He links memory to the internet by explaining that even after you get off the internet it will still be difficult to focus in a normal manner because “Our brains become adept at forgetting, inept at remembering” (194). Basically, he is saying that the web teaches us to think quickly, and efficiently, but not very attentively. Carr makes the argument that this can transfer into our daily lives very easily because your brain can get used to that way of thinking.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9 of The Shallows, Nicholas Carr explains how the internet affects human's memory. He states that, "People didn't have to memorize everything anymore. They could look it up" (177). Writing everything down and repeating what is written down helps memory. Our memory has weakened because the net has all the answers. The computer brain the Google is trying to create will never be able to be like the human brain. "While an artificial brain absorbs information and immediately saves it in its memory, the human brain continues to process information long after it is received, and the quality of memories depends on how the information is processed" (191). We are getting used to having the answers at a click of a button that we don't have to use our memory anymore.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9 of "The Shallows", Nicholas Carr shows the difference between the human brain's memory and artificial memory stored by computers. He, along with many others, argues that the Internet is replacing our need for storing information in our own brains. Now, we have virtually any information we need stored on the web, taking only moments to access. However, this just isn't the same as remembering things for ourselves. Carr claims that "Biological memory is alive. Computer memory is not." (191) Once information is stored in a computer, that's it. When information is stored in the human brain, it goes through many phases before it is fully consolidated. The brain "...continues to process information long after it's received..." (191). Even though having unlimited resources of information at our fingertips is extremely handy, it is still important for us to utilize our mental capacity and actually learn things for ourselves. So, maybe fully relying on the internet to do our thinking isn't such a genius idea after all. Maybe there are benefits to thinking on our own.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter nine of “The Shallows”, Nicolas Carr makes an argument of how the internet effects our implicit and explicit memory. Carr uses many different people and their research, on the value of memory, for his argument. The Dutch humanist, Desiderius Erasmus, suggest that everyone should keep a notebook full of information worth remembering. These notebooks came to be called “commonplaces”. Others argue that memorization is “’a waste of time’” (181), because of the technology that allows us to store it away until we need it again. Our memory process cannot even began to start while we are online because of the amount of distractions that hinder us. Carr states, “…the more we use the Web, the more we train our brains to be distracted” (194). We will continue to be distracted and our memory will suffer until we learn to think without the help of technology.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter nine of “The Shallows”, Carr is speaking on the topic of our memory. He begins the chapter by stating that Socrates was right. That when people start writing and reading the thoughts of others, “they become less dependent on the contents of their own memory.” (177). There are two kids of memories: “primary memories,” which are memories that do not last very long in your mind, but also “secondary memories,” which your brain holds onto for a long time. Carr speaks about Müller and Pilzacker who say that; “it takes an hour or so for memories to become fixed, or ‘consolidated,’ in the brain. Short term memories don’t become long-term memories immediately, and the process of their consolidation is delicate.” (184). Carr also brings in Kandal who addresses that proteins play a huge role in producing structural changes in cells and memory consolidation requires new proteins. In the ending of this he refers to our culture and how that influences the content of our character's memory. So the better your memory is the more culture you have to yourself.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 9 of “The Shallows”, Carr talks about how the Internet is starting to become a replacement for memory. Carr states, “The arrival of the limitless and easily searchable data banks of the Internet brought a further shift, not just in the way we view memorization but in the way we view memory itself” (180). The Internet is shaping the way we memorize things because of how much access of information we have to memorize. Today people are trying to memorize a lot of things quickly and because of this people tend to just memorize where it was on the Internet. Throughout chapter talks about how we tend to memorize others thoughts and not our own. In conclusion, we are allowing the internet to weaken our memory because everything we need is online.
ReplyDeleteNicholas Carr starts chapter 9 of “The Shallows” by presenting his support to Socrates’ idea that people would avoid to both learn and store their thoughts if there were a “database” of multiple viewpoints. In this chapter, Carr emphasizes the fact that since the dawn of technology people have replaced the words ‘read’ and ‘understand’ with ‘copy’ and ‘paste’. Carr brings in various scholars to strengthen his case. He quotes William James’s definition of memorizing as “‘the art of thinking’” (181). However, this “art of thinking” is onto a rapid descend because “we now store it [information] digitally” so we just have to “remember what we stored”. People today, are mistaken in thinking that the internet can potentially store both- their experiences in life and their cultural existence. Carr supports this conclusion of culture being “more than what can be reduced to binary code and uploaded onto the Net” (197). Thus, to be credited as the first prosperous generation of the modern era; we need to be known as the powerhouse of technology and not the house powered by technology.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9 of “The Shallows”, Nicholas Carr asserts that the Net took our memory and replaced it with what he calls “artificial memory”. This shift is mostly thought of as our human minds being more thought of as computers and treated as so. However, as Carr argues, “there’s a problem with our new post-Internet conception of human memory. It’s wrong” (182). He implies, and I agree, that we unload our memories onto the internet so that we don’t have to use our memory, and this practice could result in us “emptying our minds.” Unfortunately, studies show that the better you are with memorizing and keeping long term memories, the sharper your mind is. Carr insists that “to remain vital, culture must be renewed in the minds of the members of every generation. Outsource memory, and culture withers” (197). In other words, The Net does not give us enough emotional attachment to our own culture if all we do is read about it, but if instead we go out and participate in it we will create memories and give future generations the chance to create more memories.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter nine of Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows" he talks about how the web has become a replacement for our memory. While people rely on the thoughts of others on the Internet they "become less dependent on the contents of their own memory"(177). Carr later brings up the fact that the brain can store a limitless amount of information. Most people these days use the Internet to gather information, this activity is not always good. Memorization takes a lot of attention and depth which is something we never train our brains to do while reading something online.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9 of the Shallows Nicholas Carr discusses the idea that instead of the internet being and aid or a supplement to memory, it is becoming a replacement. He first describes the many brain functions and directs himself to the area of the brain that deals with memory formation. He also discusses and outlines the first ideas of humans on ways to memorize better. In 1512 Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus suggested students keep a notebook with them, “So that whenever he lights on anything worth noting down, he may write it in the appropriate section”. Carr then shines a light on the fact that memory actually stimulates the brain and allows for growth. Another intriguing fact that Carr describes is that our brains are virtually endless,” The amount of information that can be stored in long-term memory is virtually boundless” (Carr quoting Torkel Klingberg). Carr then relates memory to the internet describing how when you are “memorizing” on the internet you aren’t really memorizing at all. Many skim information and don’t actually process it so when the time comes to recall the information we can remember the web page but cannot remember the precise material we need to recall.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 9 of Carrs book “The Shallows”, he presents the idea that the internet is beginning to replace human memory and change the way we memorize. The Internet in recent times has provided us with all the factual resources we need, and has even beet out our own brains for storing data. “The arrival of the limitless and easily searchable data banks of the Internet brought a further shift, not just in the way we view memorization but in the way we view memory itself.” Instead of remembering in our own brains people use there memories to store the names of websites and search engines where one can find more information. The internet is causing people to lose what once was a large portion of the brain dedicated to memory, and substitute that loss with the internet.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 9 of "The Shallows" Carr presents the idea that the Internet is affecting human memory. Carr explains the research about human brain functions that back up his claim which makes his argument more credible. Carr exclaims "We're forced to rely more and more on the Net's capacious and easily searchable artificial memory, even if it makes us shallow thinkers." Carr is convinced that the Internet is allowing us to have no need for memory which in Carr's argument is a bad thing. Since we have no need to remember things our brain is free to trail off daydreaming or bounce around different thoughts.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 9 of "The Shallows" Carr argues that the internet has caused the brain to lose its capability to properly store memory because of the computers artificial memory. Carr states that "what determines what we remember and what we forget? The key to memory consolidation is attentiveness" (193). Attentive studying and using the mental capacity to learn something is the key to becoming a sharp thinker. The Internet is tearing this ability away from humans because you can store data on a computer with a click of a mouse. Since the beginning of time, humans have been critical thinkers, but the use of technology and the internet is bringing us to an end.
ReplyDeleteWithin Chapter 9 of "The Shallows" Carr exposes his formed idea that the internet is at a great cost to the brain and enabling the brains ability to store information because the computer. Carr's argument is basically stating that the internet has replaced the brains capacity and memory. What was once stored in the brain is now just forgotten because of the ease that it can be found on the brightened screen in the palm of your hands. Coupled with Carr's continued theme, the internet is a great cost to humans.
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