After just reading the title, I already agreed; or atleast I agree that the internet is making us stupid. Instead of studying/researching a topic, we can search it on Google and copy and paste it into an essay. People don't take the time to read into a topic, they easily become distracted by facebook or twitter and they've already forgotten the short paragraph they've just read. I won't lie, I am definetly guilty of this, but I like to think I'm wise about my internet use. Though I can spend an hour aimlessly surfing the web, I rarely do so. Also, in Carr's esssay he mentions that our knack to become distracted easily on the internet forms a lack of concentration while reading. Once you read a page or so your mind wanders, you can't focus. I find that this happens to me often while reading on the computer. I also admit facebook is a huge part of my distraction.
Many of my friends hate to read, and that is really sad. I love to read, and I love books. What the internet is doing is slowly making books obsolete. Carr talks about a writer, Scott Karp, who confessed that he'd stopped reading books altogether. Techonology is growing so fast, I don't doubt that one day books will no longer be printed on paper. Between the Kindle and the Nook millions of people are already reading books on an electronic device. Personally, I have tried to read off a Kindle and it's just not the same as a book. Though it is more convenient, and it minimizes space needed to keep a bunch of books, I don't see myself ever purchasing one.
Something that really freaked me out in this essay was the mention of Google wanting to create artificial intelligence. Google's creators, Brin and Page, have seriously thought about creating an "artificial brain". In some aspects having a direct link to every bit of information sounds awesome, but replacing your brain with an artificial one? I have no interest in that.
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