How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think

Brockman J.
How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think



Издательство: Atlantic Books
Жанр: Atlantic Books

Качество: Хорошее
Страниц: 408
Формат: pdf, fb2, epub

This book includes short responses to the 2010 annual EDGE question «How is the Internet changing the way you think?» Most of the responses, by reputable scientists, thinkers and artists, present fascinating ideas, whether convincing or not. But about a third do not relate to the question, are written in a hurry, present personal projects not related to the issue, or express raw feeling. The book as a whole is very stimulating. But benefitting from its more profound insights, while avoiding misleading views, requires readers with literacy in studies of the mind and a lot of Internet sophistication. In substance, this book is a kind of brainstorming with many high-quality contributions, but without any well-based conclusions. This is also a result of the formulation of the question, which is open to multiple interpretations and different understandings. Clearly Internet impacts on some levels of thinking, such as the dictionaries of the mind, and not on others, such as deeper recursive processes. But little more can reliably be states. In any case, it is much too early for Internet to exert significant influence on deeper mental processes. Therefore, empiric bases for studying the question are inadequate, assuming that relevant aspects of the mind can in principled be studies and are not shaped in part by the study instruments, as in quantum phenomena. All this caveats do not diminish the value of the many ideas presented in the book from which knowledgeable readers can benefit a lot. To such an audience the book is strongly recommended. But readers without required entry qualifications will be either mislead or mixed up or both — similar to what happens to uncritical and ignorant users of the Internet.