I found The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, an extremely interesting book. Some of my favorite parts were when he explained the science behind his words. I have definitely felt and noticed the things he has pointed out.
In chapter 10, the computer program ELIZA talks to normal humans. It is taken very seriously by people who are rational and who know that it is only a program. The example of the conversation ELIZA held with a young girl felt, besides the riparian of sentence frames, real and heartfelt if only because of the content. However, I knew there was only one real human in the conversation.
In the epilogue, someone created a computer program to grade essays in England. I think that this idea will never work. A writer could write almost anything, and as long as it met the algorithm's requirements, it would receive a pass. There are too many chances for an outlier to be scored incorrectly. If we they to use machines to replace human judgement, it will never go right.
Overall, this book made me think more than Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, so I like it better. What book do you think applies more to today's world and you personally?
Caleb Douglass
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DeleteI do believe that the novel written by Nicholas Carr is more relevant in today’s world due to the fact that it talks more about ideals that today’s society could understand. Personally, I found that Postman's novel was more relatable in the time in which it was written about, yet it also discussed topics that are now prevalent in today’s society. In contrast, Carr admits that he has fallen victim to the media and other technological devices, whereas Postman stays true to his topics in articulating that the media will negatively affect the future. Furthermore, Postman talks about the use of dramatization in news broadcasts which did open my eyes to that subject. Yet, Carr introduced the creation of ELIZA and how people took as to be a good representation of a human. All in all, the differences within these novels comes down to the relevancy that they both display. Although Carr’s novel is more about the demonstrations of today’s world, Postman really opened my eyes to the modern uses of technology and how he almost predicted the future ahead based on those ideals.
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