[ExI] mazlow's heirarchy of needs

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of BillK

...<http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35464896/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_ga
dgets/t/internet-making-our-brains-different-not-dumb/>

>...Some Carr quotes:...
They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book
before they would "bounce" out to another site.

>..."What the Net does is shift the emphasis of our intelligence, away from
what might be called a meditative or contemplative intelligence and more
toward what might be called a utilitarian intelligence. The price of zipping
among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking."
----------------
>...BillK
_______________________________________________

BillK, I see his point and partially agree.  I can really only argue based
on my own experience; in my own case, Carr's observations are partly right.
I agree my attention span has shortened dramatically, as evidenced by the
observation that I seldom view movies.  I get frustrated by the lack of a
scroll bar.  On the other hand, the tradeoff was a good one, for I do still
engage in deep pondering, probably more than before.  But it isn't always on
one topic.  I have been thinking about my recent experience and wondering
why it was so different from camping, where I also go several days at a time
without internet.  This was way different.  When at home, I expect to drink
information from a fire-hose.  When camping, I know I can't do that.  So I
hike my brains out, and ponder things while doing that.  

Right now I am really pondering what happens if something causes the
internet to fail catastrophically.  Some people would scarcely notice,
others would see their world crumble (mine would.)  There would be severe
repercussions within a couple days.  One of the things I have realized is
that eventually, some form of catastrophic failure of the internet is
practically unavoidable.  The internet was based on ARPAnet, which was
designed to be robust, to survive nuclear attack.  What I don't know is how
robust it is if attacked by malicious code.

The internet allows us to externalize knowledge.  But once knowledge is
externalized, it is difficult to re-internalize.

spike