Yes, I just handed in my paper. And I had a very clear set of ideas that I wanted to discuss in my paper, but I had trouble narrowing it down to the thesis, the central theme. First it was:

people just sit around discussing all the aspects of technology and this is making no progress whatsoever – it is getting us nowhere.

This is what I said in class. But that thesis didn’t really have a central point, something I could focus on. It just provided my paper with a general direction. Now, after I have already submitted the paper, I have altered the thesis somewhat. I kept it the same, but I added one thing:

People need to harness technology and implement it in their lives, in their respective field, and use it to their benefit.

We need to stop talking and start doing.

This is pretty late. It’s a funny story, actually. I thought I wasn’t going to finish this semester and just start again in the Spring, but now I’m actually coming back, so I’m going to do this project. I’m excited, because I have a lot to say about the Internet. After speaking about it all semester, this project gives us more room for creativity and leniency to voice our own opinions about the Internet.

My proposal is to talk about why people are constantly discussing the internet. Why this has become such a powerful topic for authors, scientists, and other careers. Why, instead of using the Internet to find great sources for arguments and cases, and create powerful tools for the advancement of society, do we find ourselves sitting and discussing the impacts the Internet has on us. Why can’t we just swallow up our opinions and all work together to use the Internet to help advance and further society? Was this phenomenon what Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and all of the other inventors had in mind when they created the Internet? In fact, what was on their minds when they created the Internet?

I think this source would be a good source to give background information, to help set the stage for my topic. http://www.health.am/psy/more/what-makes-the-internet-attractive/

I want to use some quotes from the Amber Case clip, and also try to find some clips from interviews from inventors, and from other people affected by technology. I am still debating using different sources at this point.

Well, this post is super late because I am not a technology person in the slightest and it took me forever to finally learn how to set up my blog. It’s really hard. I’m sort of enjoying The Shallows. I think Carr brings up a lot of interesting points and backs them up with good sources, but overall, well I don’t really like technology, so I don’t enjoy reading about it so much.

The adult brain is going to change no matter what. We are not stagnant human beings; we are dynamic, ever-changing. Professor James Odd discusses this, as he says our brains are very plastic. “The plasticity diminishes as we get older – brains do get stuck in their ways – but it never goes away” (26). I think this could be reflective of the ever-changing technology. As our brains are expanding, like plastic, we think of new ideas, and new ways to adapt to our environments. In this sense, technology isn’t necessarily limiting ourselves or our creativity, but rather we work with it to establish new ways of doing things.

This idea is brought to a whole new level later on in the reading. “Our essential role is to produce ever more sophisticated tools – to “fecundate” machines as bees fecundate plants – until technology has developed the capacity to reproduce itself on its own. At that point, we become dispensable” (46). This is a scary idea, the idea that we have created these tools that we once needed, but no longer need us. This kind of reminds me of a horror movie, where the technology rules over the humans. We have become slaves to our own inventions. I don’t fully agree with this. Humans are the inventors. We still have the “power-off” button. I don’t really think technology now has the power to reproduce on its own. I think there is always the person, the brain, behind the machine, and that is an invaluable point that’s not yet going away.

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