Der Speigel carries yet
another article which revisits the lame debate: “”Is the Internet
Really Making Us Dumber?” The article refers to a new book by James
Flynn, of “Flynn effect” fame. The way I read him, it seems kids'
abilities at some very peculiar forms of abstraction have indeed been
improving; but their verbal prowess has been slipping. Which change
is more significant?
As Max Weber once warned, responding to this
question would involve a value judgment we should be well advised to
avoid. The article, however, reminded me of that famous Pew survey of
900 experts from two years back. In it, “three out of four experts
said our use of the Internet enhances and augments human
intelligence, and two-thirds said use of the Internet has improved
reading, writing, and rendering of knowledge it.” In my mind, this
is definitive proof that the internet has made at least the “experts”
dumber.
