"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" - Nicholas Carr

Nicholas Carr constructs an all too applicable article for these modern times in his piece, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?". In his article, Carr claims that the human self is undergoing an extreme transition in this world that stresses efficiency and immediacy. People are beginning to act like the avid decoders they are and operate without much feeling as proven by Carr's many examples. For instance, the invention of the type-writer in conjunction with the late writer Friedrich Nietzsche's blindness yielded a change in rhetoric and style in Nietzsche's work. His prior terse pieces became even more telegraphic in style due to his use of technology.

Carr goes on to explain that it is quite possible for the human brain to reprogram itself, and that our society is presently experiencing such. Our malleable brains are adopting simpler exercises due to the fact that internet-based services allow us to skim, browse, and extract information at our leisure. The decoders of information the internet has to offer have no choice but to add themselves to the equation of productivity and the consumption of information. Granted, Carr is assuming that all internet users utilize the services of Google and that all web-browsing is done in a distracted manner, his predictions and observation are spot on. There is a new sense of self on the way for the people of the world. Whether users are becoming more stupid or not, it is clear that some change is underway.