Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr

In "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Nicholas Carr contemplates within the first page of his seven-page essay how he and many of his intelligent acquaintances can't read more than a brief two or three page article. I was miffed by this irony and, just as ironically, lost enthusiasm and interest in the article quickly.

However, when I did manage to find interest in the article, it turned out to be a very well-written and interesting essay and I found myself agreeing with many of the points Carr made in his essay about fears and predictions of what the plethora of information available through the internet will do to the human brain.

Unfortunately, the essay seemed to me to be unable to connect the main ideas and make a really compelling argument. They had opinions more than facts and research, when I'm quite sure there would have been research on the subject.

Also, the essay presented a few too many ideas - I personally didn't really understand how the story about Frederick Winslow Taylor's system really related much to other concepts in the essay, for example the idea that the Internet wants us to be easily distracted, or that there is so much information, but none of it very thorough or deep. I found the latter concepts to be much more interesting and less out-of-place than the idea of system efficiency over individual feelings and talents.

The one element the system idea connected well with was the reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was an interesting comment on how it could happen that humans become machinelike due to technology, but I felt he should have written a separate essay on those ideas, and left this essay to propose how so much information and knowledge could actually make us only superficially intelligent.

Other than the essay being - again, ironically - a bit too much unrelated information, I thought it was interesting and well-written. The quotes were well chosen, and the stories and ideas were interesting. Carr seemed at times to be a bit insecure of his feelings on the matter, writing, "Maybe I'm a worrywort," but he shouldn't be. This well written essay sums up predictions and fears that everyone should think about: how much instant, superficial information is too much?