Robbins Library Notes

Good morning, readers!

I’m choosing a provocative headline today, in light of Nicholas Carr’s recent article in The Atlantic, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?“  Carr’s article is a thoughtful look at how Google (and the Internet in general) is shaping and changing the way we read and interact with words, thoughts, and ideas, and not always for the better.

Needless to say, Carr’s article has provoked a firestorm of criticism, about some of which you can read here, here, and here*. All of these posts show that there are some very serious issues to consider here, and the very real potential for some terrible things to happen, if technology is embraced blindly and thoughtlessly.

Carr’s points are not minor, especially for those of us in academia, where the traditional liberal arts/humanistic model of education is undergoing change, and in some cases, dismantled, in favor of a more vocational preparatory model.  Furthermore, the changes that Carr suggests bear great relevance for philosophy and philosophical education — philosophy is a discipline that requires deep reading and reflection, something not fostered or encouraged by the Internet.  How does philosophy survive and adapt to this new environment?  Are there things we should strive to retain?

Thoughts, readers?  Where do you stand on this?  Do you think that Carr is right?  Or his critics?  Comment away!

Update 7/28/2008: Along the same lines — “Online, R U Really Reading?*,” by Motoko Rich, New York Times, 7/27/2008.

*A hat-tip to Bookforum.com for these articles.