Category: Let's talk
I thought this editorial from David Brooks in the New York Times might be of interest to those of us trying to navigate this virtual world of ours.
I'd be interested in your response to this sign of the times.
read the original article here.
The Outsourced Brain
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: October 26, 2007
The gurus seek bliss amidst mountaintop solitude and serenity in the meditative trance, but I, grasshopper, have achieved the oneness with the universe
that is known as pure externalization.
I have melded my mind with the heavens, communed with the universal consciousness, and experienced the inner calm that externalization brings, and it all
started because I bought a car with a G.P.S.
Like many men, I quickly established a romantic attachment to my G.P.S. I found comfort in her tranquil and slightly Anglophilic voice. I felt warm and
safe following her thin blue line. More than once I experienced her mercy, for each of my transgressions would be greeted by nothing worse than a gentle,
“Make a U-turn if possible.”
After a few weeks, it occurred to me that I could no longer get anywhere without her. Any trip slightly out of the ordinary had me typing the address into
her system and then blissfully following her satellite-fed commands. I found that I was quickly shedding all vestiges of geographic knowledge.
It was unnerving at first, but then a relief. Since the dawn of humanity, people have had to worry about how to get from here to there. Precious brainpower
has been used storing directions, and memorizing turns. I myself have been trapped at dinner parties at which conversation was devoted exclusively to the
topic of commuter routes.
My G.P.S. goddess liberated me from this drudgery. She enabled me to externalize geographic information from my own brain to a satellite brain, and you
know how it felt? It felt like nirvana.
Through that experience I discovered the Sacred Order of the External Mind. I realized I could outsource those mental tasks I didn’t want to perform. Life
is a math problem, and I had a calculator.
Until that moment, I had thought that the magic of the information age was that it allowed us to know more, but then I realized the magic of the information
age is that it allows us to know less. It provides us with external cognitive servants — silicon memory systems, collaborative online filters, consumer
preference algorithms and networked knowledge. We can burden these servants and liberate ourselves.
Musical taste? I have externalized it. Now I just log on to iTunes and it tells me what I like.
I click on its recommendations, sample 30 seconds of each song, and download the ones that appeal. I look on my iPod playlist and realize I’ve never heard
of most of the artists I listen to. I was once one of those people with developed opinions about the Ramones, but now I’ve shed all that knowledge and
blindly submit to a mishmash of anonymous groups like the Reindeer Section — a disturbing number of which seem to have had their music featured on the
soundtrack of “The O.C.”
Memory? I’ve externalized it. I am one of those baby boomers who are making this the “It’s on the Tip of My Tongue Decade.” But now I no longer need to
have a memory, for I have Google, Yahoo and Wikipedia. Now if I need to know some fact about the world, I tap a few keys and reap the blessings of the
external mind.
Personal information? I’ve externalized it. I’m no longer clear on where I end and my BlackBerry begins. When I want to look up my passwords or contact
my friends I just hit a name on my directory. I read in a piece by Clive Thompson in Wired that a third of the people under 30 can’t remember their own
phone number. Their smartphones are smart, so they don’t need to be. Today’s young people are forgoing memory before they even have a chance to lose it.
Now, you may wonder if in the process of outsourcing my thinking I am losing my individuality. Not so. My preferences are more narrow and individualistic
than ever. It’s merely my autonomy that I’m losing.
I have relinquished control over my decisions to the universal mind. I have fused with the knowledge of the cybersphere, and entered the bliss of a higher
metaphysic. As John Steinbeck nearly wrote, a fella ain’t got a mind of his own, just a little piece of the big mind — one mind that belongs to everybody.
Then it don’t matter, Ma. I’ll be everywhere, around in the dark. Wherever there is a network, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a TiVo machine making a
sitcom recommendation based on past preferences, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a Times reader selecting articles based on the most e-mailed list, I’ll
be there. I’ll be in the way Amazon links purchasing Dostoyevsky to purchasing garden furniture. And when memes are spreading, and humiliation videos are
shared on Facebook — I’ll be there, too.
I am one with the external mind. Om.
Bob
I remember the day I realized that my Braille 'n Speak was becoming my brain. Instead of committing phone numbers, birthdays, etc. to memory, I was writing them down.
Wow. This made me think. It's scarily true! We are becoming nothing more than a lot of pieces of data stored in different places! I used to be able to remember everybody's phone number. Now, with the addition of Talx to mobiles, there's no need! I still remember some, but not nearly asmany as I used to.
FM
I saw an article on the BBC that said human brains will most likely shrink due to lack of use over the next 1000 years. I think it is very true that the brain power we use is becoming frighteningly less and less. I'm not sure I remember all my friends' phone numbers any more and, boy, if my cell phone got lost or stolen I'd probably have to sit around at home because I wouldn't be able to call a friend, but, no matter, I can always download the recommended sit com of the day to watch. ;)
And have your computer remind you to download it again the next day, just in case you've forgotten! Boy, isn't the world changing? Help! I want my brain back!
Someday I firmly believe we will have miniature computers implanted in our heads that can communicate directly with our brains. Combine that with satelite communication systems and my implant can talk to your implant and we have mind reading without the mysticism. Think of how things would be different if we all knew what each other is thinking. You hate your spouse, and they know it instantly. No more lies. No more calling in sick. ...
Also, we will be able to communicate with libraries around the world, kind of like google on steroids. No more questions, just answers.
Then the brain will be really under used, virtually nothing to do.
Just my thoughts.
Bob (but you already knew that!)
Bob, I can already read your mind, and I know that you are picturing Nem and jmbauer naked. Stop that!
Becky, my mind is like a mirror, it reflects back what looks at it.
When I read your mind, it took me so far into the gutter it took me three weeks to walk back.
Bob the swami