The Quest for Identity and an article by an Oxford neuroscientist

[Complexity]

Here's an interesting article by an Oxford neuroscientist, entitled "The REAL brain drain: Modern technology - including violent video games - is changing the way our brains work, says neuroscientist'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1965

I've been concerned about several of the issues that she raises.

[Darat]

Interesting but I can't even fathom what the concern actually is:

"Unless we wake up to the damage that the gadget-filled, pharmaceutically-enhanced 21st century is doing to our brains, we could be sleepwalking towards a future in which neuro-chip technology blurs the line between living and non-living machines, and between our bodies and the outside world."

...snip...

This will affect our brains over the next 100 years in ways we might never have imagined.

...snip...

But with our brains now under such widespread attack from the modern world, there's a danger that that cherished sense of self could be diminished or even lost.

So we will be different, fair enough, but why is this somehow necessarily "bad"?

[Ichneumonwasp]

I've been concerned about Amy Winehouse lately, too.

[Complexity]

Some of the concerns that she raises that I share are:

Originally Posted by Susan Greenfield

Already, it's pretty clear that the screen-based, two-dimensional world that so many teenagers - and a growing number of adults - choose to inhabit is producing changes in behavior.

Attention spans are shorter, personal communication skills are reduced and there's a marked reduction in the ability to think abstractly.

Originally Posted by Susan Greenfield

Now, coinciding with the moment when technology and pharmaceutical companies are finding ever more ways ot have a direct influence on the human brain, pleasure is becoming the sole be-all and end-all of many lives, especially of the young.

Originally Posted by Susan Greenfield

We could be raising a hedonistic generation who live only in the thrill of the computer-generated moment, and are in distinct danger of detaching themselves from what the rest of us would consider the real world.

I think these are changes for the worse.

Many of you know enough about me to know that I can be as nerdy and techy as the best of us. I've done a lot of thinking on some of the topics she raises and have been writing some science fiction that explores some of the deep integration of person and technology that she touches on.

Some of what she raises, however, is happening and is to be regretted.

Some of it is why I'm no longer interested in teaching.

I've seen attention spans shrink - far too many people aren't either able or willing to do any sustained thinking.

Too many people are used to being entertained (notice the passive tense) and believe that this is how they should treated by the world. They particularly think this true with regard to their education.

Terse, staccato, fragmented, and stream-of-consciousness communications are being celebrated while good conversation and good writing are in decline.

While I've never thought that most people think very well, deeply, or abstractly, I've come to believe that fewer are able to do so today than were able to do so twenty or thirty years ago.

I don't think that these changes are inevitable, they are going to have to be deliberately and creatively addressed if we are to salvage much of what I value.

[Ichneumonwasp]

I imagine the same sorts of concerns were raised upon the introduction of writing. What? No one is going to be able to reember anything -- they'll just write it down?

It's just change. Not good, not bad. Just is.

[plumjam]

Fearmongering + Crossword = Daily Mail

ETA: I'd be more worried (geddit) about a person reading the Daily Mail every day, rather than a person playing computer games etc..

[The Gnomon]

Originally Posted by Ichneumonwasp

I imagine the same sorts of concerns were raised upon the introduction of writing. What? No one is going to be able to reember anything -- they'll just write it down?

It's just change. Not good, not bad. Just is.

Not just writing. Tool-making, the invention of the crossbow, radio, telegraph, television, the wheel . . . all probably had their detractors, as each requires abandoning a skill previously held in high esteem.

[The Gnomon]

Originally Posted by Complexity

While I've never thought that most people think very well, deeply, or abstractly, I've come to believe that fewer are able to do so today than were able to do so twenty or thirty years ago.

Twenty or thirty years ago (when I was 40 or 30), my standards for thinking well, deeply, or abstractly were less demanding than they are now. That contaminates my ability to determine whether this sentence can be supported by my own experience.

I am struck by the notable difficulty children have in entertaining themselves absent a video game. We had books and daydreaming, as well as exploring and ball games (participatory, not organized or supervised). This is possibly as much due to the relative decrease in the proportion of children in the culture, and to the increased perception (real or not) of the world as being an incredibly dangerous place into which a child should never venture without at least three adults, one of whom is a parent, as supervisors. (You never know who is a pedophile, therefore at least 3 adults, and even then you're not certain.) Perhaps the only adults around whom children are safe, are those who do not want to be around children. Therefore, teachers, playground directors, clergy, etc. should be avoided. Going by media representation, no-one is safe. What a world!!

[The Gnomon]

Originally Posted by Complexity

While I've never thought that most people think very well, deeply, or abstractly, I've come to believe that fewer are able to do so today than were able to do so twenty or thirty years ago.

Twenty or thirty years ago (when I was 40 or 30), my standards for thinking well, deeply, or abstractly were less demanding than they are now. That contaminates my ability to determine whether this sentence can be supported by my own experience.

I am struck by the notable difficulty children have in entertaining themselves absent a video game. We had books and daydreaming, as well as exploring and ball games (participatory, not organized or supervised). This is possibly as much due to the relative decrease in the proportion of children in the culture, and to the increased perception (real or not) of the world as being an incredibly dangerous place into which a child should never venture without at least three adults, one of whom is a parent, as supervisors. (You never know who is a pedophile, therefore at least 3 adults, and even then you're not certain.) Perhaps the only adults around whom children are safe, are those who do not want to be around children. Therefore, teachers, playground directors, clergy, etc. should be avoided. Going by media representation, no-one is safe. What a world!!

[Moochie]

I get, with some of the younger people I've met, that there is a palpable sense of "missing out" on "something" -- a "something" that seems indefinable -- without access to grafted-on cell phones and always-on Internet. The idea of moments of quiet reflection seems alien, even weird to them. Reading anything more than a three-sentence, 50-word paragraph in one sitting (rather, standing) is ultra boring, especially if any of the words are multisyllabic.

M.

[Ichneumonwasp]

Damn, few too many words, but I was with you until that last word. Boring.

[INRM]

Originally Posted by Darat

Interesting but I can't even fathom what the concern actually is:

"Unless we wake up to the damage that the gadget-filled, pharmaceutically-enhanced 21st century is doing to our brains, we could be sleepwalking towards a future in which neuro-chip technology blurs the line between living and non-living machines, and between our bodies and the outside world."

...snip...

This will affect our brains over the next 100 years in ways we might never have imagined.

...snip...

But with our brains now under such widespread attack from the modern world, there's a danger that that cherished sense of self could be diminished or even lost.

So we will be different, fair enough, but why is this somehow necessarily "bad"?

Some differences good, some differences bad.

As he said people modern day have less attention spans, less able to think abstractly and have poorer communication skills.

None of these things strike me as good...

[Darat]

Why?