tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post2423877250210325447..comments2023-09-27T07:44:19.769-04:00Comments on Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction: PS on Information OverloadSabine Hossenfelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-70537175605839175522008-06-21T18:56:00.000-04:002008-06-21T18:56:00.000-04:00I think the title was chosen so they could have an...I think the title was chosen so they could have an eye-catching cover. Carr doesn't even talk about Google. He's mostly concerned with short articles and information overload, if I understood him correctly.The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-73327168921103456892008-06-17T08:04:00.000-04:002008-06-17T08:04:00.000-04:00War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. ...War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. -Ambrose Bierce, writer (1842-1914).<BR/><BR/>Google just makes it a little bit easier (to learn geography, that is). Information is even easier to come by, and so (mistakenly) knowledge is even less valued. But the attitude is the same as it was a century ago.Arunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03451666670728177970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-84311374055599417092008-06-16T07:08:00.000-04:002008-06-16T07:08:00.000-04:00Hi Bee,Nicholas Carr writes:“The kind of deep read...Hi Bee,<BR/><BR/>Nicholas Carr writes:<BR/><BR/>“The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that Phil Warnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15671311338712852659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-67699234285251841892008-06-15T23:43:00.000-04:002008-06-15T23:43:00.000-04:00Hi Bee,‘As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan poi...Hi Bee,<BR/><BR/>‘As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.’<BR/><BR/>“Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browsePhil Warnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15671311338712852659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-52605705171279614032008-06-15T22:58:00.000-04:002008-06-15T22:58:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Phil Warnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15671311338712852659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-47736038407646089142008-06-15T19:29:00.000-04:002008-06-15T19:29:00.000-04:00Dear Stefan,I am really not sure if one can blame ...Dear Stefan,<BR/><BR/><I>I am really not sure if one can blame the internet/google for a loss of the ability to focused reading. As you say, this effect doesn't set in for everyone, and even though I know very well the feeling of not being able to focus on reading longer texts, that typically happens at very busy times, when lots of junk thoughts are swirling around in my head... It could be a Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-55861393712617268232008-06-15T18:24:00.000-04:002008-06-15T18:24:00.000-04:00Dear Bee,thanks for the recommendation - it's inde...Dear Bee,<BR/><BR/><BR/>thanks for the recommendation - it's indeed the one text I've read today (though, quite long for an online text ;-), and it's an interesting one. <BR/><BR/>I am really not sure if one can blame the internet/google for a loss of the ability to focussed reading. As you say, this effect doesn't set in for everyone, and even though I know very well the feeling of not being stefanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09495628046446378453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-65957985123288153222008-06-15T16:58:00.000-04:002008-06-15T16:58:00.000-04:00I've set things up so that I don't have internet a...I've set things up so that I don't have internet access every other day, more or less. I also don't have a TV. Eventually I get bored of working and play computer games. And so I don't buy new computer games out of fear of losing yet more work time.CarlBrannenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17180079098492232258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-50556304839357602162008-06-15T15:22:00.000-04:002008-06-15T15:22:00.000-04:00Jazz, comic books, the Pill, calculators... Google...Jazz, comic books, the Pill, calculators... Google. What is worth thinking when supportive effort is minuscule compared to application? What is entertaining when the printed page is eclipsed by interactive display?<BR/><BR/>Europeans once lived in thatched mud huts with their stock animals, surrounded by urine and feces. It was an astonding event to shuffle into a mammoth stone cathedral and Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-18605641576420385512008-06-15T14:51:00.000-04:002008-06-15T14:51:00.000-04:00I started to read the article, but I lost concentr...I started to read the article, but I lost concentration and gave up.Andrew Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03852211910001840777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-46179676739187107612008-06-15T14:14:00.000-04:002008-06-15T14:14:00.000-04:00Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurob...<A HREF="http://www.sciencenewsdaily.org/story-4071.html" REL="nofollow" TITLE="Monkeys Adapt Robot Arm as Their Own"> Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurobiology and co-director of the Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University Medical Center, with robot arm. PHOTO CREDIT: Duke University</A><BR/><BR/> <I>"In our new experiments, the idea is that by using vision and touch, PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-81347562934286784012008-06-15T13:19:00.000-04:002008-06-15T13:19:00.000-04:00err, I meant the quotation that I had in yesterday...err, I meant the quotation that I had in yesterday's post, sorry.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-8776629152742735192008-06-15T13:17:00.000-04:002008-06-15T13:17:00.000-04:00Hi Ridger,Yes, sure, anecdotes don't prove much, b...Hi Ridger,<BR/><BR/>Yes, sure, anecdotes don't prove much, but the danger has been pointed out for a long time. There are many studies (that date back longer than one would think) confirming that information overload lowers the attention span (see e.g. the quotation I had above). Whether and how that affects cognitive abilities on the long term is a different question though.<BR/><BR/>To speak ofSabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-49540764952583934342008-06-15T13:02:00.000-04:002008-06-15T13:02:00.000-04:00I mostly agree with him when he says "Anecdotes al...I mostly agree with him when he says "Anecdotes alone don't prove much."<BR/><BR/>But I've got my own, which is that I can settle down and read six or eight hundred pages in a day now (assuming that day is a Saturday) just as I used to.<BR/><BR/>So IF the Internet is changing him, it's not changing everyone.The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.com