Part One:
“Although we created it, we did not exactly design it. It evolved. Our relationship to it is similar to our relationship to our biological ecosystem. We are codependent and not entirely in control…We are now all connected, humans and machines. Welcome to the dawn of the Entanglement.” (W. Daniel Hillis 251)
I selected this quote because I found it fascinating how he compared it to our biological ecosystem. He is basically saying that just like the earth, we can’t control something we invented. We can influence it, like how on earth climate change, which was caused by humans, is affecting the earth. But with the internet, we as humans can design something we might want or find helpful but that can be used in a different way than intended.
Although we had the internet and technology growing up, it isn’t as bad or as much as it is now for kids growing up or for us now as adults. One thing that really sticks out to me is as a kid when the technology wasn’t as much a part of our lives, the things we would do when we were hanging out with friends. When we were young we would go outside or make up games or do anything with our imagination. This was because if we had a computer there was only one in a whole separate room and there would never be enough room for everyone to see. Also the TV wasn’t as fresh and exciting as it is now because there is no Netflix.
Now when we hang out with friends people are always on their phone or we are watching Netflix or playing on our laptops. People never really go outside to hangout or play like when we were younger. If people are outside they are probably just sitting on their phone or taking pictures. Overall the phone/technology is involved. For me this is something that I struggle with because I don’t really know if this is just because I am older or if it is because of technology in our lives. Since I have nothing to compare it to, like I don’t know what it was like to be my age and not have a phone. Since our generation kind of grew up as technology was also growing up, I feel that the integration of technological into our lives happened at the perfect times of what else was happening within our lives.
Part Two:
I Can Make a Difference Because of The Internet by Bruce Hood
In this article, Hood is explaining the contrasts of the internet, the good and bad aspects of being a person of the internet. On one hand, having a blog or someway that you share your thoughts and ideas and passions on the internet can be helpful to someone. It can provide knowledge to them and help them improve their lives. But on the other hand, the person writing the blog or posting on the internet can become obsessed with the feedback they are getting ad become addicted to it. Which overall is not good for their mental health.
I Have Outsourced My Memory by Charles Seife
In this article, Seife is talking about the time before the internet when he had to use books and store all the information he learned in his mind. How the books became dog-eared and that going to the library became so natural to him. But as the internet first developed he could just bookmark pages that were important to him, he did’t have to remember as much. And now he can just use Google or another search engine to find what he learned earlier. He doesn’t have to book mark. And although he didn’t say it straight out, I believe that he was making the point that we have become dumber in some sense since the internet has been invented.
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