Hannah Wurster
English 101
Reading Questions
July 2, 2013
"How Computers Change the Way We Think" Pg; 44 Question 3
At the end of the article, Turkle assets that current computing habits and software may undermine "Democracy, Freedom of expression, Tolerance, Diversity, and complexity of opinion". Look over the article again to determine the precise reasons she gives to support these conclusions. Which arguments do you find to be the most convincing? Why? -I think that simulation and its discontents are the most convincing because of the simulation on computers people tend to live in their own sort of fantasy worlds instead of the real world. In this game they are playing they don't have to use any real life concepts. For example you don't have to know the meaning of something, like the icon that continues to pop up, they just make it go away and continue on with their lives. This is a real life problem because if people put things off to the side without knowing the meaning or value of them, they could end up hurting themselves in the future. In this game, they are also given chance after chance. In life you get one shot at things. Rather than living in this virtual worlds that don't have any advantages that you can take with you in life, people should be focusing on life and how they should be living it.
"Is Google Making Us Stupid?" pg 54 Question 4
Carr claims that "The idea that our minds should operate as high speed data processing machines is not only built into the workings of the internet, it is the networks reigning business model as well". Is he accurate? Does Turkle's analysis in "How Computers Change the Way we think" corroborate Carr's views? Complicate them? -Yes he is accurate because we are wanted to be able to process more quickly because the information is there for us and so that we use the internet's resources. We don't have to dig for what we are looking for, it is right in front of us. In business they want things done quickly and a certain way, rather than taking the time to make things their own way. We are being told to think and work as machines, to move at a certain pace and to get things finished at fast as we can, even if it involves using short cuts and doesn't test our minds full potential. Turkle's analysis corroborates Carr's views because they are both saying that these types of technology are changing the way that are minds work, and we should learn to do things differently, rather than focusing on giving them our best efforts.
"Faux Friendships" pg 60 Question 2
What does Deresiewicz mean by my alleged social network "friends" are "simulacra of my friends, little dehydrated packets of images and information, no more my friends than a set of baseball cards is the New York Mets".
-What he is saying is that the people he is friends with on social networking sites aren't actually his friends. He's saying that you cannot fully get to know someone based on their social networking accounts. They only put up certain information, and usually it is things that are meant to get attention from other people rather than focusing on having people understand and get to know them. By saying "dehydrated packets of images and information" he means that they is nothing to them. They're dry, not full of any detail that makes you understand a person. Throughout this passage he explained that just because you're friends with a person on Facebook, doesn't necessarily mean that you're friends with the real person. You are "friends" with the version of themselves that they want you, and whoever else views their profile, to see.
