Willis 1 Ryan Willis Professor Mark Owen Composition One 14 June 2018 “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Summary and Response In Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he argues that the technology being invented each day could potentially hinder our concentration when we read; potentially impeding our ability to learn new concepts effectively. He starts off the article by referencing a particular scene in Stanley Kubrick’s2001: A Space Odysseyin which HAL bewails that he feels his mind going more and more unstable by the minute. Carr says that he understands how HAL feels, as he feels like his brain is being altered more and more as he uses technology each day. Carr discusses how our minds have been changed so that instead of reading a passage in order to fully understand it, we now only read in order to gain as much possible information as we can in the shortest amount of time. He laments how he can no longer concentrate while reading like he used to; and he asserts his claim that his lack of focus is caused by modern-day technology. Carr goes into detail about how the internet and new technology changes the brain, as well as how the brain is able to rework itself in order to gain the attributes of those technologies. He shows the readers how the big companies are profiting off of our lack of focus and concentration, as well as how
