Nicholas Carr

Ogni giorno navighiamo nel Web, passando da un sito all'altro, a caccia di notizie, documenti, video; controlliamo la nostra casella di posta elettronica, inviamo SMS e non dimentichiamo di inseguire emozioni sui social network più alla moda. La rete rende più rapido il lavoro e più stimolante il tempo libero ma, mentre usiamo a piene mani i suoi vantaggi, stiamo forse sacrificando la nostra capacità di pensare in modo approfondito? Abituati a scorrere freneticamente dati tratti dalle fonti più disparate, siamo diventati tutti superficiali? Che ci piaccia o no, la rete ci sta riprogrammando a sua immagine e somiglianza, arrivando a plasmare la nostra stessa attività cerebrale. Con stile asciutto e incisivo, lontano sia dagli entusiasmi degli adepti del cyberspazio sia dai toni apocalittici dei profeti di sventura, Nicholas Carr ci invita a riflettere su come l'uso distratto di innumerevoli frammenti di informazione finisca per farci perdere la capacità di concentrazione e ragionamento.

Po co myśleć? Przecież masz internet! Doświadczamy właśnie odwrócenia intelektualnej ewolucji naszego gatunku. Z czcicieli wiedzy i mądrości jako przymiotu ściśle związanego z osobowością znów stajemy się myśliwymi i zbieraczami, tym razem w elektronicznym lesie pełnym informacji. Internet wkroczył w nasze życie i bezpowrotnie je przewartościował. Przekształcił sposób, w jaki myślimy i działamy. Nasze problemy z koncentracją, coraz krótsze i uboższe wypowiedzi oraz problemy z przyswajaniem długich tekstów nie są dziełem przypadku. Czyżbyśmy stawali się coraz bardziej płytcy? Czyżby narzędzie, które powstało po to, by nam służyć, przejęło nad nami władzę? Nicholas Carr pokazuje, jak nowe media zmieniają nas samych i otaczającą nas rzeczywistość. Wyrasta przy tym na współczesnego Marshalla McLuhana. Jego książka wywołała w USA zażartą dyskusję, w którą zaangażowało się wielu publicystów i prestiżowych wydawców. Carr serwuje nam coś więcej niż tylko dogłębną i zaskakującą analizę socjologiczną: jego wywód to przede wszystkim wspaniała intelektualna uczta, pełna nieszablonowych przemyśleń i frapujących anegdot. Bez względu na to, czy jesteś zafascynowany możliwościami globalnej sieci, czy też raczej podejrzewasz, że konsekwencją jej rozwoju będzie zagłada rodzaju ludzkiego, warto dowiedzieć się, jak internet oddziałuje na Twój mózg i jak zmieni to Twoją przyszłość.

In The Glass Cage, best-selling author Nicholas Carr digs behind the headlines about factory robots and self-driving cars, wearable computers and digitized medicine, as he explores the hidden costs of granting software dominion over our work and our leisure. Even as they bring ease to our lives, these programs are stealing something essential from us. Drawing on psychological and neurological studies that underscore how tightly people’s happiness and satisfaction are tied to performing hard work in the real world, Carr reveals something we already suspect: shifting our attention to computer screens can leave us disengaged and discontented. From nineteenth-century textile mills to the cockpits of modern jets, from the frozen hunting grounds of Inuit tribes to the sterile landscapes of GPS maps, The Glass Cage explores the impact of automation from a deeply human perspective, examining the personal as well as the economic consequences of our growing dependence on computers. With a characteristic blend of history and philosophy, poetry and science, Carr takes us on a journey from the work and early theory of Adam Smith and Alfred North Whitehead to the latest research into human attention, memory, and happiness, culminating in a moving meditation on how we can use technology to expand the human experience.

“Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the Net’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? Now, Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration of the Internet’s intellectual and cultural consequences yet published. As he describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by “tools of the mind”—from the alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer—Carr interweaves a fascinating account of recent discoveries in neuroscience by such pioneers as Michael Merzenich and Eric Kandel. Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our neural pathways. Building on the insights of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr makes a convincing case that every information technology carries an intellectual ethic—a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He explains how the printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In stark contrast, the Internet encourages the rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information from many sources. Its ethic is that of the industrialist, an ethic of speed and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption—and now the Net is remaking us in its own image. We are becoming ever more adept at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection. Part intellectual history, part popular science, and part cultural criticism, The Shallows sparkles with memorable vignettes—Friedrich Nietzsche wrestling with a typewriter, Sigmund Freud dissecting the brains of sea creatures, Nathaniel Hawthorne contemplating the thunderous approach of a steam locomotive—even as it plumbs profound questions about the state of our modern psyche. This is a book that will forever alter the way we think about media and our minds.