Determinism And Instrumentalism In The Shallows

Nicholas Carr, author of the novel “The Shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains” explains in his works that media and technology is affecting the way our brain works and is used in our daily lives. Carr states, “The price we pay to assume technology’s power is alienation. The toll can be particularly high with our intellectual technologies. The tools of the mind amplify and in turn numb the most intimate, the most human, of our natural capacities - those for reason, perception, memory, emotion.”(Carr, 211) Carr continues to explain an interesting phenomena that occurred in society within the

Technology can become handy for the typical person who legitimately does not have enough time on their hands. For example, “[a calculator] can accurately solve mathematical equations it would take humans months to complete in seconds” (Zatarain). This type of technology makes beneficial tasks like balancing chemical equations for the advancement of science, much faster. Another example includes how technological advances can benefit a person’s health. For example a machine called the Cell-CT platform can detect lung cancer by examining “800 physical characteristics to identify lung cancer cells…with virtually no false positive results”; this advanced machine has the ability to save lives and give smokers the heads up to go into treatment (Radcliffe). Society has acquired extremely beneficial machines from these advancements and mentioning these benefits provides reasons on why society needs these machines; however, the many detriments by the advancing technology covers its

In Nicholas Carr’s essay “All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machine’s” he brings up the ethical problem of technology. Technology is all around today, but people are starting to wonder if this surplus of technology is starting to make the world less smart. Carr’s primary argument is as technology becomes more prevalent, people are losing knowledge to do certain tasks. Carr claims this is bad because people are putting their lives at risk and dying due to this lack of knowledge. People are starting to get lazier because of technology. They start to care less and think they are gaining something extra by using the technology, when, in fact it is the exact opposite. Carr states, “most of us want to believe that automation frees us to spend our time on higher pursuits but doesn’t otherwise alter the way we behave or think. That view is a fallacy” (5). This fallacy is affecting how people think and how current children are being taught in schools. Children as young as preschoolers are now starting to use tablets and computers for learning instead of having a teacher doing their job fully and actually teaching them. Instead of adding something to a task or helping to get it accomplished technology, “alters the character of the entire task, including the roles, attitudes, and skills of the people taking part” (5). Throughout his entire essay, Carr argues mostly why he believes too much technology could be harmful in the long run, but also states

The Internet is something that some consider their lifesavers, while others believe that it takes their life away. The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, by Nicholas Carr is a novel that explores the different areas of how new technologies affect humans in different ways, regarding multi-tasking and distractions, to how new technologies make us lose a little part of ourselves. Throughout the book Carr puts forward very strong arguments, but then loses creditability with his use of fallacies in argument.

Nicholas Carr is an American author who writes the majority of books and articles about the continuously evolving world of technology and how it is effecting our society. Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, was a 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist and a New York Times bestseller. In this essay I will be rhetorically analyzing Carr’s essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid” published in 2008. The purpose of Carr’s essay was to bring light to an issue that many of us face but only a meniscal few have come to terms with; and that is that technology is mentally incapacitating our society and simultaneously making us lazy. This essay was intended for anyone was has been consumed in today’s culture by new technological advances to the extent of not being able to function without some sort of device, IE cellphone, laptop or tablet on a daily basis.

Carr and Cascio’s outlooks on “what technology is” were similar, but they had different perspectives on how technology affects our society. Carr notices that while technology keeps artificial information moving forward and huge amounts of information at our disposal, it also affects our natural ability to think for ourselves. He is appealing to pathos because he senses that this common problem is making our society less dependent with their selves and more dependent towards technology. He uses his article to appeal to the fact that he notices the changes in the ways that he used to think came from the use of technology. Cascio, on the other hand, thinks that technology is what makes our society so efficient. He uses ethos to propose that the concept of co-evolution between human and technological interaction has helped us adapt to the ever-changing world around us. Carr’s and Cascio’s perspectives toward the effects of technology usage are the starting point of contrast between the two articles.

Nicholas Carr covers an unprecedented amount of material in his novel, “The Shallows.” He delves into subjects ranging from the history of the book to the business of Google to the psychological concept of neuroplasticity. All of these topics support his main argument: the idea that the internet is destroying our brains. He takes the deterministic approach that we are the tools we use, meaning they shape our brains. According to Carr, the internet negates our memories, deems print books useless, and distracts us from reality. His counterargument comes from the instrumentalist approach; this viewpoint maintains that people stay the same no matter the tools they use. His arguments are both sound and flimsy, current and outdated, and he rants

In the Shallows Nicholas Carr shown his side of the argument that technology is overpowering our minds. How he proves this fact is that whenever we learn something new on the computer it takes less than 2 days for the brain to reshape itself to adapt to the new learning environment. The brian has a plasticity to being able to mold itself into a new challenge to adapt to a new circumstance. We become dependent of the internet addicted to see what is new with our friends. Finally it shows that we can’t be offline for a certain time period or we will get withdraws like a drug. This shows how the internet and technology has affected us in a terrible manner.

In the book by Nicholas Carr, The Shallows, he is arguing how the internet has changed our brains. The thoughts, mental processes, and even the physical brains is being restructured to fit into the new technology that we are being the guinea pig of the testing. Carr informs us that it’s more to it than just knowing that are brains and the human condition are changing, but that the internet isn’t this evil machine. As the people we are making a choice to use this new technology knowing we are losing but also gaining new benefits that the internet provides us.

Large companies like Google and Bing have made finding things you are looking for several times easier. Despite all these wonderful improvements, there are always some downsides. At the right time and place, technology can be used effectively and proficiently. Sometimes, however, it is unnecessary and downright stupid to use in certain circumstances. For example, texting someone and notifying them of an important event can be useful, but not when you text your friend' "Hey," when you are sitting right next to them. People are going as far as making AI, or artificial intelligence in order to interact with someone, despite there being 7 billion other people on the planet. Professional or hardcore gamers have gone to extremes in order to keep their career and or reputation afloat. They are willing to stare at a screen for days at a time, barely eating or drinking, all while wearing an adult diaper, only doing it to reach 1st place on the leaderboards. Technology has not only affected how we act, but how we think as well. In the novel, Carr talks about the idea of neuroplasticity, which is the concept of the brain being able to

It was said by the CEO of Apple that, “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” (Iz Quotes) In this day and age, technology has infiltrated society in more ways than can be imagined, even in terms of the medical field. Biomedical technology is the use of new advances in terms of computers and electronic devices to assist in saving lives and making new strides in medicine. The question remains, however, whether this technology helps or hurts people in the long run, and whether the use of it should be restricted. This is a relevant issue in society for the reason that it can help save people, or it can hurt or possibly even take their lives. (ProQuest Staff) It also raises the question as to whether technology is completely replacing people. The use of biomedical technology should be restrained, but not completely eliminated, for the reason that it improves the way that doctors and physicians are able to care for the sick. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that the use of technology should come second to the actual doctors, since the skills truly lie in the hands of the people that use them, rather than in today’s advanced technology, as can be ascertained from Mr. Jobs’ quote. Technology can enhance people, however, moderation

Thesis statement: In today’s world, as technology is advancing around us, some of the major effects that can be seen are medical technology advances, ease of communication with the growing technology, and the negative effects on our body.

Technology has been advancing every day, which has tremendous effects on the lifestyle of people. People are dependent on technology, and as a lifestyle of people change, a demand of advance technology grows. Technological advancement has both positive and negative effects, for instance, benefits of technological advancement are time saving, increases the production, simplifies the communication, improved the health care and education and others. On the other hand, technology has decreased the human interaction, people are lazy and dependent due to technology, which has decreased the innovation and increases the health risks such as weight gain and obesity-related health issues. This paper will describe regarding the historical perspectives of U.S health care delivery system. The paper will contrast and describe the two technological advances and their impact on a health care delivery system. In addition, a paper will explain regarding the author and public opinion on technological advances.

Over the course of many centuries, medical technology has developed to a great extent. Studies show that recent equipment has evolved more in the last ten to twenty years than in the past thousand years. Before human time, people learned to treat themselves by just using natural substances. Now-a-days, our hi-tech systems in the medical field have been created for the most effective tools for a high level of patient care. While they advance the tools, it will then allow for quicker diagnosis, less pain, and fewer costs, which in the end will help save more lives. Some people are accepting that modern technology can buy them more time to live while others might find it quite alarming because they fear

Technology has indeed made a tremendous impact to society; health problems caused by modern technology have evolved into an important problem, especially