Is Google maling us stupid - Essay Example

Knowledge was now a living and breathing thing that, although not physical in appearance, had a direct and positive effect on the minds of society as people were forced to memorize the spoken word. Each and every bit of information needed to be committed to memory in order to successfully pass it on to the next generation. Then the advent of writing came about and now we had a permanent record of all these teachings to look back on anytime that we needed to. However, this knowledge was now incomplete in its solid form.

It was no longer that easy to add new information to it because of the difficulties posed by the writing method of the time. And yet, we somehow managed to continue to grow this databank of information for future use. When typewriters were invented, the world of learning changed forever as it now became easier to understand the written word. Books and newspapers, these were the icing on the cake at the time. It helped people collect knowledge that they deemed important for themselves and their closest family members and friends.

But that was not the end of the evolution of knowledge. Instead, it marked only the beginning. Then, television came and allowed us to not only hear about the information that could be gleaned from books, now, we could also see it in actuality and discover the wonders of learning in a totally new way. Thanks to television, we saw the past of the knowledge that we had but also, managed to see its future as well. And this electronic piece of technology was already considered the biggest threat to learning by most academicians and scholars because they felt that the brain was no longer functioning the way it should be.

That is, reading and remembering the information that was passing through it. That belief proved to be unfounded and nothing but the fear of people who did not understand how learning and knowledge were fast evolving and becoming an even more relevant part of the daily lives of people. And that academic and scholarly argument is the very same argument that is now being used by the very same people to prove that the internet and search engines in particular are stunting the growth of the human brain.

Rewiring it and turning it into a lazy soft mass in our skulls that cannot be used for anything. Not even remembering simple information. If only these people would get over their fear of technology and the way that it changes the learning process of man for the better, maybe they would finally see that mankind is actually reaching a learning type of maturity that was not available to him before. These people argue that because all the answers to all the questions one has, regardless of how inane it is, can be found through the internet and the use of a search engine then man no longer knows how to research, discern the statements he is reading, and most disturbingly, he no longer has the ability to remember information because he just needs to bookmark the information for future reference.

Thus turning our brains into a pile of mush. In reality, the search engines are a highly beneficial tool for those who wish to further learn and gain knowledge about specific topics. Gone are the times of sitting in a dusty old library going through piles of reading material, poring over them for significant information for days on end. These days, knowledge