It presents the idea of humans depending on technology to function efficiently. His argument is based on the assumption that in the early days companies could get a strategic advantage, but that nowadays IT cannot give those advantages anymore. Nicholas Carr, a technology writer poses that question about the internet and asks readers to give it some thought. But because Carr … Carr's 2010 book, The Shallows, develops this argument further. On the evening of February 12, 2009, a Continental Connection commuter flight made its way through … Of course it does. Nicholas Carr, in his article “IT Doesn’t Matter” (HBR, 2003) raises a point that IT has become ubiquitous and cheap and is no longer a competitive advantage for a business. But this statement is not necessarily true. . He makes suggestions that the internet is changing the way our mind works and that it has negative consequences on the mind. Carr cites a bit of psychology and neuroscience, but he doesn't seem to notice that the study he unveils most triumphantly actually refutes half of his own argument. Carr’s argument also breaks down when it comes to idle Web surfing. Carr's chart would look very different if he had tracked the number of MIPS or CPU cycles on the network from 1990 to 2002. He loves his RSS feed as much as the next guy. Unknown September 7, 2015 at 7:57 AM. Replies. He suggests that rather than seeking advantage, companies should instead manage to reduce costs and risks. The way you approach IT investment and management will need to change dramatically. (Carr, 5) Carr’s argument benefits from this in that he is able to redefine one of the Internets highest regarded institutions as, “something making its users, “into little more than Automatons”, (Carr, 5) A point that ties in well with his overall argument that the internet is harming our critical thinking faculties, and ruining our traditional abilities to process information. Carr's main argument is that the Internet might have detrimental effects on cognition that diminish the capacity for concentration and contemplation. Socrates was among the early critics of technology. Carr says that information technology has become so pervasive that, like railroads and electricity, it has lost its strategic value. IT has become a commodity. His books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Academics sometimes express concern or nervousness over how commonly used technologies like the Web, the Internet, and social software may affect information habits and even the way net-gen students read, write, think, and learn. A 2009 study by neuroscientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that … Nicholas Carr's dire warning: How technology is "making the world less interesting" Carr released one of 2014's most buzzworthy tech books, "The … How does Carr use transitions to connect the parts of his text and to help readers follow his train of thought? Nick Carr's article "IT Doesn't Matter" was published in in Harvard Business Review in May 2003 and ignited an industry firestorm for its perceived dismissal of the strategic value of IT. Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage (Harvard Business School Press). The obvious answer might be that Google gives us instant access to all types of information and that that access is surely making us smarter, but that isn’t the conclusion Carr comes to in his article. Our dependability on electronics and machinery replacess our own intelligence into artificial intelligence. The essence of Carr's argument is that information technology (IT) is less of a strategic differentiator among firms than it once was. Nicholas Carr November 2013 Issue. Nicholas Carr will discuss his book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains at 7 p.m. Thursday, January 10 at the Chautauqua Community House, … One must question if these individuals would absorb and assess information presented in a book any differently. As information technology’s power and ubiquity have grown, its strategic importance has diminished. In one of his works, “Phaedrus,” he mentioned that print books can make humans forgetful. It takes one side of an argument that’s undeniably urgent and important to business leaders. “Nicholas Carr has foisted an existentialist debate on the mighty information-technology industry . The increasing affordability of IT … Argument Analysis Nicholas Carr’s intended audience is everyone, specifically people who use the Internet. Information Technology and the ... me about Carr's technically excellent work is that he ropes off as inadmissible what I consider the crucial questions about IT in contemporary use: How is it used, to what purpose, and advancing what goal? One of his essay’s, “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” focuses on whether or not the Internet is creating problems within today’s society, and with our learning abilities in general. His argument was that our deepening dependence on networking technology is indeed changing not only the way we think, but also the structure of our brains. More than 2,000 years ago, the classical Greek philosopher Socrates complained that the new technology of writing "will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls because they will not use their memories." Since its emergence, technology has received numerous criticisms from many scholars and professionals worried about its impact on the human mind. Is Google making us stupid? In a 2008 Atlantic article Nicholas Carr came right out and asked, 'Is Google Making Us Stupid?' For Carr, this process is, in the words of the playwright Richard Foreman, “the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the ‘instantly available’” (33). (See Chapter 8 to help you think about how they help develop an argument.) The audience is appropriate because almost everyone uses the Internet on a day to day basis. Carr's graph on information technology stands as a subject lesson for Darrell Huff's well-known book How to Lie with Statistics. Carr includes Richard Forman’s opinion, that we will all become pancake people. Reply Delete. it is important.Nicholas G.Carr’s “IT Doesn’t Matter,”published in the May 2003 issue,falls into the third category. Despite the title, the article is not specifically targeted at Google, but more at the cognitive impact of the Internet and World Wide Web. Based on Carr’s argument, it is evident that, through simplifying knowledge, people have opened their capacity of memory to a wider variety of things, therefore making us deeper thinkers than prior generations. Carr's … Any new information technology has both advocates and critics. Carr believes that we should be skeptical of the internet because of the adverse ways it may be shaping the way we think. His argument is simple, powerful and yet also subtle.” –The Economist “Carr lays out the simple truths of the economics of information technology in a lucid way, with cogent examples and clear analysis.” –Hal Varian, New York Times Nicholas Carr is an acclaimed writer whose work focuses on the intersection of technology, economics, and culture. Nicholas Carr … Kyle Bean. In 2000,nearly half of U.S.corporate capital spending went to information technology.Then the spending col- And by nature a commodity doesn’t provide competitive advantage. His main focuses are the changes in technology, business and the culture. Carr is not arguing that information technology doesn’t matter. The title of Carr’s article is the first and probably most overt clue to what argument he is trying to make. ... Carr's main argument is that the Internet may have detrimental effects on cognition that diminish the capacity for concentration and contemplation. Among other things, IT improves productivity by reducing communications, search, and transaction costs, and by automating all sorts of tasks previously done by humans. 4. Today, Google is the new technology. Carr acknowledges throughout The Shallows that it’s neither possible nor preferable to rewind technology. Here, Web 2.0 editor Trent Batson responds to the question. When Carr states “For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium” in paragraph four the author provides his counter argument which is to warn the incoming generations the dangers of the Internet before his main argument. . Carr marshals a good deal of evidence drawn from recent, and not so recent experimental work, which shows, he believes, that the use of digital technology is … Reply. Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid” Summary and Analysis . Instead, its ubiquity makes it, in effect, an equalizer -the same technology is available for purchase to everyone. 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