| certainty |
[Jul. 18th, 2009|11:08 pm] |
I'm not the first person to say this, but I'm really starting to come to the conclusion that there is a major downside to the internet in that it makes almost everything instantly available. It sounds weird to say that, because everyone would agree that access to information generally a good thing. The problem is that it makes things too instantaneous. There's no room left for either wonder or debate. It used to be that kids could lie around and wonder what made the sky blue, or could discuss it with friends and argue their competing theories, or just ask around and see what other people said and try to deduce who's answer made the most sense. But now, type any question into Wikipedia and you have an almost indisputable answer in seconds. In a way it's great because it removes people's misperceptions and increases accuracy. But in another way it kinda sucks because it removes any need to think about anything, or argue your position with other people, or just lie around daydreaming and trying to figure it out yourself. I'm worried that the next generation of kids won't have the ability to work through problems themselves, and if the answer isn't easily available at their fingertips, they'll be completely stumped. I don't know, maybe I'm just becoming a grumpy old man who is afraid of change and new technology, but I think this is a problem.
In other news, if you hadn't noticed, tiny ghosts #200 came out the other day. Hooray me. |
|
|