"Is Google Making Us Stupid"

Google along with the Internet has changed the way humans think. Nicholas Carr sees Google as an "artificial intelligence." Google has created the ways for which humans can no longer read a book or contemplate one subject. Human minds know just seem to drift from one focus to another focus. Nicholas Carr states, "I feel as if I'm always dragging my wayward brain back to the text." Carr argues in "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" that he is no longer able to experience deep reading which he claims is an immediate cause of Google. Many of Carr's friends have backed up his reasoning telling him of their circumstances with the subject. Scott Karp, a blogger, questions what happened to the days when he used to be a voracious reader. Scholars from University College London conducted experiments in which they found people skimming over websites skipping from one website to the next. Nicholas Carr quotes Maryanne Wolf, a psychologist and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, who asserts "We are not only what we read. We are how we read." This reasoning backs Carr's opinion that our old cognition has been etched out by the existence of the Internet. Whether or not Google is truly affecting the way one thinks, everyone uses Google. If Carr's argument proves to be true then everyone is slowly adapting their minds to the fast and easy world of the Internet.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

When was the last time that I sat down and engrossed myself in a lengthy novel? I remember as a child easily knocking off three books in a week. According to Nicholas Carr in "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Carr feels a certain entity is "tinkering" and "reprogramming" his mind and the minds of millions. This thought is both frightening and terrifying revealing a glimpse into the future, a future where the human brain is no longer able to retain memory or concentrate on one subject. Typing in www.google.com and clicking the search button has become secondary nature to anyone with access to the Internet. Google eliminates the stress and work of having to search for hours upon hours in the library looking through countless periodicals. The advantages of finding an infinite amount of information using just one click are endless. However, Nicholas Carr sees Google as a destructive tool that shapes and morphs the neural circuitry in the brain. The ways one used to think have been changed. They have been altered and disfigured. They have been replaced by an "artificial intelligence." Are these new ways of thinking necessarily bad though? Humans may have never written books because they worried over whether our ways of thinking would dramatically change for the worse. The act of not writing books would have been a crime to humanity. Reading has sparked areas in the brain never imagined, broadening each person's intelligence. I feel Google has a lot to offer and only time will tell what the effects are on the human mind.

Objectifying the Subject/ Subjectifying the Object

It may shock you, but I enjoy being what one would call a “creeper.” I would not go so far as to say I do it for a living or as a hobby, but yes I find it somewhat appealing and captivating to spy on someone. The act of stalking does not faze me. I took great amusement in our assignment. There was no hesitation or equivocation. However, finding the right person to stalk took a couple of minutes. I plotted beforehand where the perfect place would be to sit without appearing out of the ordinary and being close enough to my target in order to properly monitor him or her. In order to not give myself away completely and ruin the whole investigation, I decided to sit just one seat away from my prey. I sat at one of the tables in the back of the Axinn Library.

My subject was male, white, young, skinny and medium height (from what I could gather from him sitting down). He was characterized by brown wavy hair, a long torso and slender arms and legs. He was wearing a dark blue collared t-shirt that consisted of white stripes running horizontally across the shirt and dark blue jeans. He had on white sneakers with a darker color running along the side and on the bottom. In front of him was a Dell silver laptop which appeared to be relatively new. There was a black labtop case in front of the labtop. He was half sitting on his black jacket that had a blue interior with white lining. The jacket was resting on the lower part of the chair touching his lower back. To his left were a white textbook and a blue binder lying on top of it. His backpack was positioned on the floor to his lower left on the floor. To his right on the table was a black iPhone. In the first few minutes of me observing him, his right hand was touching the bottom of his labtop with his pointer finger extended serving as a mouse and his left hand covering his forehead. His feet were always in front of him touching the floor sometimes with his heels slightly raised. His head was tilted downward constantly staring at his labtop.

My subject’s primary activity was looking and typing at his labtop. In the course of the half hour that I was able to examine the student, he brought out a few pieces of loose leaf from his binder and a workbook from his backpack. He proceeded to focus on these objects still referring back to his labtop and typing in information. Even from just one seat away I could hear the clicking of the keys at this labtop and the ruffling of his papers. At different periods he cracked his knuckles, scratched his forehead and stretched his neck.
The boy was clearly a newer student at Hofstra. From his physical appearance one could claim he is very sporty. He was taking his time to study at one of the back tables in the library probably to escape any noise or disturbance. He was dressed very casually like most students in college and probably shops at places like Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch by the clothes he was wearing. He was relaxed and intently focused on his work. He was constantly working being hardly districted by the people around him. I would wager that he is a very hardworking student that is dedicated to his studies.

I received an abundance of accomplishment from the onsite library writing experience. I solidified my ability to stalk someone without giving myself away. I was successfully able to observe and learn about someone without even having to talk to him. I was able to make inferences about the person based on my observations and data. I used my senses of hearing and sight. Although this does not solve the problem, it is a start. This activity is useful for writers in the fact that writers are always examining the world from all different viewpoints. A writer must have the skill of observation in order to write about a variety of subjects. A writer can invent the university, but with a few observations of their own they are able to create inferences and make sense of something. In the library, all of us were training and practicing our observation skills. We were all strengthening our ability to ask the right questions in order to find out more about our object. This is crucial in being a good writer.

"What the Dog Saw"

Cesar Millan as a child was called el Perrero, “the dog boy.” This suits him perfectly in his uncanny ability to train aggressive, hostile dogs into angels. At the Dog Psychology Center, Cesar takes care of forty-seven dogs believing in his motto of “Exercise, then food. Work, then reward.” The results have been shocking. The key is presence and state of mind. There must a sense of authority or you’re lost. Malcolm Gladwell states, “…in a way that is true of almost no other animals, dogs are students of human movement.” A dog will look to his owner for help unlike a chimp who uses the cues of the same species. A human cannot cooperate with a chimp. Dogs have a different attitude towards humans than chimps in that they are truly interested in humans to a point of obsession. A dog will communicate and act based on his or her owner’s movements and behaviors.

How does this dog-human interaction compare with human-human interaction? Millan fell in love at the age of twenty-three and married his wife Illusion a year later. Illusion characterized him as being macho-istic and egocentric never showing affection. He agreed to go see a therapist after Illusion threatened to divorce him. Wilma, the therapist, claimed, “Well, she wants something, too. She wants your affection and love.” Just like the dogs, his wife needed “exercise, discipline, and affection.” Cesar Millan had always been connected to dogs, but had not felt the same with humans. Millan was able to learn how to be a people whisperer on top of being a dog whisperer.

Gladwell is effectively arguing that dealing with dogs is similar in dealing with humans. Humans need to be shown affection and love. With dogs it is necessary to show the same affection, but at the same time showing authority and discipline. The dog needs to know who is in charge or will throw a tantrum like any other child not properly disciplined by their parents. The triad of "exercise, discipline, and affection" is the key to understanding this essay in that in order to succeed in life one needs to show these three things. Everyone has their own psychology and if treated properly one can connect with humans and if they are interested dogs too!

Question for "Snitch Bitch"

3) When Jackson compares hypertext to a moving vehicle does she mean it can easily be changed unlike a book which is "in search of a place of rest?"

Shelley Jackson is commenting on the ability of one to change hypertext vs. being able to change the writing in a book. Once a book is written and published there is little room to go book and revise the book. One cannot just highlight a passage of words and then press delete. The book is already on the shelf ready to sold and viewed by thousands. This is why writers spend hours upon hours revising and correcting their work. With hypertext one can easily go back and delete and add words. There are no boundaries. The opportunities are limitless. One is free to edit their work whenever they feel the need to. Jackson compares hypertext to a moving vehicle in order to describe the magical process in which a writer's work is always changing and evolving. The writing progresses and transforms sometimes into something unknown. A whole piece of work may be deleted if so desired. A book belongs on a shelf. Hypertext belongs to all creative writers never having an ending or a beginning.

"Snitch Bitch"

After having read Shelley Jackson's "Snitch Bitch" I am still quite confused at most of what she was trying to say. Who is really writing "Snitch Bitch?" Is the reader supposed to believe that Shelley Jackson is an imposter? Has the reader already been tricked before even starting to read?

1)What does it mean that the banished body has no center, but has a roving focus?

2)Is it a negative that hypertext lacks "thrust?" Is it a positive?

3)f a sentence is nothing, but "a cluster of contrary tendencies" how a reader ever able to come to a distinct meaning of the writing?

4)What does Shelley Jackson mean in her comment "...and alphabetical order is a contradiction in terms?"

5) does Jackson start every segment with a negative statement?

6) Who is Shelley Jackson? Who is the real author of this piece?

Billy Collins "Litany"

http://www.creekcats.com/pnprice/winegoblet.html

1. What was Billy Collins' original intention in writing "Litany?" Did he write it using a romantic tone or a comedic tone?

2. What was the background of the poem? What does the audience need to know? Is it possible that "Litany" is based on a previous break-up?

3. Is there a deeper meaning behind imagery like "the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet and the wine?"

4. Is imagery such as "pigeon on the general's head" supposed to be portrayed in a negative connotation?

5. Is Billy Collins poking fun at love poems?

6. Is Billy Collins "inventing the university?"

I feel Billy Collins is poking fun at love poems. I reread "Litany" a couple of times and still could not find any deeper meanings. The first author of this poem probably meant the first lines "You are the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet and the wine" to hold a symbolic meaning referring to the Catholic religion. I find that most of Billy Collins' imagery to be unflattering. No woman would want to be described as "marsh birds suddenly in flight" or "pigeon on the general's head." The poem is in a way contradicting and condescending. Billy Collins writes "There is just no way you are the pine-scented air." This to me seems to be a direct insult to his so called love. I feel this relationship may have become sour. That would explain why the author of the poem presents himself to be selfish and derogatory.