4.4.11
I know everything, I know nothing
As a citizen of the "information age" I am obligated to revere the internet as a god-like magical object. Google, Facebook, Yahoo, E-mail, Banking, Plane Tickets, Route Planning, Chatting, Video Games, Friends, nearly anything my analog heart can desire is at my fingertips. What does it mean to know everything? Is it the ability to recall any information at any time? If that is the case then the internet allows us all to know everything. But, fortunately it doesn't mean that. Knowing everything means the ability to apply knowledge, not just recite it. You can describe the color green all you want, but until you see it you don't know shit about green. Of course colors are a polarizing example but you get the idea. This makes me wonder, how the access to everything, has changed our minds and ideas. Obviously I am a subjective viewer as I am on the internet right now. Wonderment, Lust for knowledge, Seeking understanding, Privacy, Solitude, all of these things have been affected by the internet. Our brains are mass aggregates of facts and trivia. You may know Charlie Sheen's lawyer's name, but can you pass the bar exam? It's not that our understanding has changed but the amount of information we know. That's why schools still exist. You can learn everything there is to know about particle physics, but can you function as a particle physicist. Certainly some people could, but many others could not. Some would argue that schools are just there to give you a diploma, proof that you have the skills that you claim to have. But I argue, you can just print your diploma off of the internet. I'm just kidding of course. Schools still serve a purpose as understanding institutions, although they are starting to be pulled less and less from that direction. With changes to our thinking style, that sounds weird to type. But it's true, we think differently from our parents, or our older siblings, or younger siblings. Most of us on the internet are multi-tasking constantly, often to the detriment of some or all of the tasks. If the way we think is changing then surely the way we learn is changing. The way our brains gather and collect information, what we think about, who we think about, how we define things as important. Everything about us is changing. I sort of went off topic but that is ok, so yeah.
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