(no subject)
In response to Is Google Making You Stupid? and some of the comments made on lifehacker.com:
Cheers to all the thinking folk wasting air to not pay heed to the article's intent, but their use of Google in the title. You're all the Fox News equivalent of posters. All presentation, no substance.
1. Google may not -be- the internet, but without it we'd be able to find the information we need much less quickly, which is a good portion of the reason he says the internet is making us stupid -- not the availability per se, but the efficiency and speed in which we can get it.
2. I agree with what a few posters have said move. This is merely freeing the mind to do even more with the information (or on the nay-side, puts more burden on us to on being sure our sources are reliable. Sources in the past had credence because they merely existed and it took a lot of effort, money, etc. to just exist. Now, it costs nothing, so the pressure of seeming legitimate is remarkably less). Before the difficulty lied mostly in finding the references, and then after all that energy was expended, you had to glue them together to say something worthwhile. Now step 1 is (reasonably) simple, so people can concentrate more on making interesting conclusions based on facts, rather than wasting all their time just finding them.
True, if your definition of 'stupid' means lazy and finding mere facts to be equivalent to intelligence, then you're correct. But if your definition of 'stupid' is people who go through pointed efforts to gather many sources of information and make a new, viable thesis, then google won't make people that.
--
I got to play 'Shavuot pseudo-Goy' last night, and help this huge gathering of Hasidic Jews deal with an overworked fuse. I say pseudo, since I'm technically Jewish, but I might as well not be. as far as they're concerned. The whole building was out (perhaps because they had about 500 A/Cs on throughout the place, and almost all the lights on, flying in the face of the sterotype of frugality). I was biking by after having hung out with my friend in Prospect Heights. I was in particularly good spirits, because I was on my 'new' bike ('new' because I bought it about a month and a half ago) and I'm always happy on my bike. I love biking more than most things, and regard it for about 50% of my recent good mood. They waved me over and asked for me to turn back on the fuse-switch. Unfortunately, it was in the basement, and all the lights were out. Fortuitous for them, since I have a beautiful bright white bike light. So I went down, flipped it on, and offered to stick around to make sure it didn't go off again. Lo, it shut off again a few minutes later.
Then chaos happened. Yiddish was being spouted all around me -- obviously a rather heated discussion as to what should be done. I suggested they shut off some of their A/Cs, especially since the sun had long set (it was about midnight), and a breeze was picking up. So I was led around this really quite nice apartment building unplugging A/Cs. Before leaving on this journey, I asked if someone would specifically watch my bike, since I know from a psychology study I watched some time ago, that if you give someone any direct responsibility, rather than letting a group handle something like this, no one will take responsibility. This ~10 year old kid offered.
So I marched around, and asked to the man leading me around (who seemed one of the more authoritative men there) to be sure my bike was being watched. My landlord is a Hasidic Jew, and what can I say? I have some major experience of this man not taking any responsibility for anything outside of his realm of the world. And this man gave the same airs. I was doing a mitzvah (good deed, for you Goys), but it really seemed like he was just using me and not appreciating it at all. It annoyed me, but there were other people who I spoke to who were much nicer. So I make my way back, touch the fuse, and it's still pretty warm. I offer to stick around for 10 minutes to let it cool off.
While waiting outside (and it was -gorgeous- last night, mind you), I tried to start chit chat with the folks around me. One particularly nice guy had a light theological discussion with me, but his weak English made it difficult to have any meaningful conversation. We also had some light talk about how lovely and important it is that they have such a tight community, and I wish all neighborhoods were like that. He also, at one point, said 'I was the boss' in this sort of funny way, since I was the only one who could turn the fuse back on. Also, before going inside for the night, he praised me on knowing so much, in which I replied that I didn't know anything. I can't tell if he was being sarcastic, or just genuinely sweet. He was by far the nicest one there, though.
I tried asking all the younger kids ( < 12 years old ) when they had to wake up. 'Early,' they said. Which turned out to be 8am, which really isn't that bad. I still find it interesting/curious that Hasid's hold such late hours -- the whole family. They're always out and about late at night. It coincides with my schedule pretty well.
I then tried asking them how many hours of sleep they need, minimally, to not be tired the next morning. One of the older kids ( ~17 years old) answered, smugly with a smoke in mouth, that it depends for everyone. Well, duh. I was asking them specifically.
I eventually went down, flipped the fuse, waited another 5 minutes, and then left when it was still on.
A mitzvah halfway done is scarcely a mitzvah at all.
Cheers to all the thinking folk wasting air to not pay heed to the article's intent, but their use of Google in the title. You're all the Fox News equivalent of posters. All presentation, no substance.
1. Google may not -be- the internet, but without it we'd be able to find the information we need much less quickly, which is a good portion of the reason he says the internet is making us stupid -- not the availability per se, but the efficiency and speed in which we can get it.
2. I agree with what a few posters have said move. This is merely freeing the mind to do even more with the information (or on the nay-side, puts more burden on us to on being sure our sources are reliable. Sources in the past had credence because they merely existed and it took a lot of effort, money, etc. to just exist. Now, it costs nothing, so the pressure of seeming legitimate is remarkably less). Before the difficulty lied mostly in finding the references, and then after all that energy was expended, you had to glue them together to say something worthwhile. Now step 1 is (reasonably) simple, so people can concentrate more on making interesting conclusions based on facts, rather than wasting all their time just finding them.
True, if your definition of 'stupid' means lazy and finding mere facts to be equivalent to intelligence, then you're correct. But if your definition of 'stupid' is people who go through pointed efforts to gather many sources of information and make a new, viable thesis, then google won't make people that.
--
I got to play 'Shavuot pseudo-Goy' last night, and help this huge gathering of Hasidic Jews deal with an overworked fuse. I say pseudo, since I'm technically Jewish, but I might as well not be. as far as they're concerned. The whole building was out (perhaps because they had about 500 A/Cs on throughout the place, and almost all the lights on, flying in the face of the sterotype of frugality). I was biking by after having hung out with my friend in Prospect Heights. I was in particularly good spirits, because I was on my 'new' bike ('new' because I bought it about a month and a half ago) and I'm always happy on my bike. I love biking more than most things, and regard it for about 50% of my recent good mood. They waved me over and asked for me to turn back on the fuse-switch. Unfortunately, it was in the basement, and all the lights were out. Fortuitous for them, since I have a beautiful bright white bike light. So I went down, flipped it on, and offered to stick around to make sure it didn't go off again. Lo, it shut off again a few minutes later.
Then chaos happened. Yiddish was being spouted all around me -- obviously a rather heated discussion as to what should be done. I suggested they shut off some of their A/Cs, especially since the sun had long set (it was about midnight), and a breeze was picking up. So I was led around this really quite nice apartment building unplugging A/Cs. Before leaving on this journey, I asked if someone would specifically watch my bike, since I know from a psychology study I watched some time ago, that if you give someone any direct responsibility, rather than letting a group handle something like this, no one will take responsibility. This ~10 year old kid offered.
So I marched around, and asked to the man leading me around (who seemed one of the more authoritative men there) to be sure my bike was being watched. My landlord is a Hasidic Jew, and what can I say? I have some major experience of this man not taking any responsibility for anything outside of his realm of the world. And this man gave the same airs. I was doing a mitzvah (good deed, for you Goys), but it really seemed like he was just using me and not appreciating it at all. It annoyed me, but there were other people who I spoke to who were much nicer. So I make my way back, touch the fuse, and it's still pretty warm. I offer to stick around for 10 minutes to let it cool off.
While waiting outside (and it was -gorgeous- last night, mind you), I tried to start chit chat with the folks around me. One particularly nice guy had a light theological discussion with me, but his weak English made it difficult to have any meaningful conversation. We also had some light talk about how lovely and important it is that they have such a tight community, and I wish all neighborhoods were like that. He also, at one point, said 'I was the boss' in this sort of funny way, since I was the only one who could turn the fuse back on. Also, before going inside for the night, he praised me on knowing so much, in which I replied that I didn't know anything. I can't tell if he was being sarcastic, or just genuinely sweet. He was by far the nicest one there, though.
I tried asking all the younger kids ( < 12 years old ) when they had to wake up. 'Early,' they said. Which turned out to be 8am, which really isn't that bad. I still find it interesting/curious that Hasid's hold such late hours -- the whole family. They're always out and about late at night. It coincides with my schedule pretty well.
I then tried asking them how many hours of sleep they need, minimally, to not be tired the next morning. One of the older kids ( ~17 years old) answered, smugly with a smoke in mouth, that it depends for everyone. Well, duh. I was asking them specifically.
I eventually went down, flipped the fuse, waited another 5 minutes, and then left when it was still on.
A mitzvah halfway done is scarcely a mitzvah at all.