Filed under: Drafts
On the top of your head, can you name all the stages of photosynthesis? The date of the storming of the Bastille in the French Revolution? Or what it is? What about the lyrics of a new Gaga hit, even? Yes? … No? … Google?
In olden times, it is usually mistaken that intelligence meant knowledge. At school, the “smart” ones were always the ones who memorized all the algebra equations, aced all the tests and remembered the periodic table of elements by heart; they were the ones with the Ivy League within reach and stood out in their classes, petted by teachers and students alike. But when put to the test, can these smart ones really put their knowledge to use? … Think about it. Consider the following historical figures: Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates – and what makes them really historical. It is a common expression that some of the most intelligent people to make history used to be bad students as kids – go figure! So many people are stuck with the notion that taking High Level Chemistry and Physics in High School to get into Med school would make you extremely successful. Well, it might. But what made those people make history was never how they got into the best university in the country, but that they had ideas… brilliant ideas! Bill Gates alone made $300 per second in 1998 – that’s about a million dollars per hour! Would you really say he was just a really good student, or spent 10 times as much effort into his job than other people? No. He had an idea – and billions bought it, and for a while, he was the richest man in the world. (I had to digress.)
Remember what I asked you at the beginning of this article? With that said, isn’t it so much easier to look up dates and such in Google? Yahoo Search? MSN Search? Dogpile? Ask? The answer is… yes it is. So why should we bother learning the names and formulas of polyatomic ions in Chemistry class when all of us could, instead of spending hours memorizing, easily look them up – and use the information Google’s given us to do something actually productive? As I’m writing this, I could very easily look up the answer on Google, and so could you.
Brian Cathcart isn’t very amused at this, however. He claims that Google is killing general knowledge; that things like simple geographic information can enrich you – and should. It is true, however, that the availability of the internet and its content lessens our ability to think and to have adequate knowledge of the world. For instance, in terms of general knowledge, many in North America cannot even locate Australia, and think that Africa is a country in itself! (Says my Geography teacher.) But it is also true, as a matter of fact, that Google can help us find out these kind of things in a second – and, in a sense, be more knowledgeable. That is, though, the exact reason why Cathcart is claiming that Google allows us to, too freely, be able to obtain basic information in such a short and easy way that we often don’t care to “know” these things; that we don’t feel the need to remember things because knowledge is virtually at the tip of your finger. Brian writes:
“The other is more subtle. Everybody involved in these stories has consciously handed over responsibility for knowing geography to a machine. With the sat-nav on board, they believed that they did not need to know about north or south, Spain or England, leafy Surrey or gridlocked Islington. That was the machine’s job. Like an insurance company with its call centre or a local council with its bin collections, they confidently outsourced the job of knowing this stuff, or of finding it out, to that little computer on the dashboard.” (From More Intelligent Life)
And here is an interesting story Cathcart used to back him up: During a pub quiz where BBC’s former Mastermind game show winner took part in, the game got called into a tiebreaker, whereas him and an opposing group of people competed in answering questions, the opposing team were allowed the use of Blackberrys to look up answers while the man only had his brain. And, over a turn of events, they’d let the guy win (obviously they had too big an advantage: Google!). After the game, he was confronted by a woman on the team that asked him how on earth he’d gotten the answer right – without using Google. She was so accustomed to the power of ‘Googling’ information that, in her eyes, it was impossible he’d known something most people would rely on Google to get. Where has general knowledge gone, and why are so many people dependent on the media to know these kinds of answers – and not their own brain themselves?
So maybe general knowledge IS dying. But let me tell you this. Given the right resources (Google, for instance), one can accomplish so many things! Using this kind of tool that gives them such easy access to virtually any kind of knowledge in the world, revolutionary accomplishments are practically only a few clicks away. Because brains can work together so harmoniously, it is so much easier for all of us to use Google as a tool outside of our common knowledge; to be able to research, to get answers, to question things, to read up on world news, to see what’s going on globally, to reach out – something that Google can prove to be such a bigger advantage to human kind than its holding back of our ability to memorize… now, does memorizing things really make you “the smartest kid on the block” anymore?
Yes, Cathcart, why should Google be seen as something that holds you back – instead of something that helps you advance? Since it it so easy to look up for things (hence the popularity of the emerging verb – to ‘Google’ a keyword), given the ubiquity of the internet, instead of complaining about it, why not look on the bright side? Billions worldwide are using the internet (particularly Google) for educational purposes; to look up information and learn from valid websites, to watch video clips that enrich the mind, to learn country names, mathematical formulas, historical dates, names, events, … For one, I’d argue that Google enriches general knowledge, instead of killing it! Sure there are instances where people have preferred using Google over answering simple questions, often looking things up on their iPhones and mobiles in real-life situations. But it is up to the individual whether they want to be educated or not. I, for one, do. Starting with Google.
“Don’t bother to remember anything you could look up. Instead, keep your mind free for creative thinking.”- Albert Einstein
For more information:
http://trueslant.com/garyandrewpoole/2009/12/21/our-internet-obsession-is-making-us-stupid/
http://odeo.com/episodes/25199081-Full-Interview-Is-Google-Killing-General-Knowledge (Full audio interview with Brian Cathcart)
http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/?p=1707
Pictures from: http://blogoscoped.com/files/google-cartoon-04.gif and http://www.flickr.com/photos/missha/2209205063/ (Attribution: Some rights reserved; free to share, unless for commercial use)
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