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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy the Internet isn’t making us smarter – and how to fight back
By David Dunning
In the hours since I first sat down to write this piece, my laptop tells me the National Basketball Association has had to deny that it threatened to cancel its 2017 All-Star Game over a new anti-LGBT law in North Carolina a story repeated by many news sources including the Associated Press. The authenticity of that viral video of a bear chasing a female snowboarder in Japan has been called into question. And, no, Ted Cruz is not married to his third cousin. Its just one among an onslaught of half-truths and even pants-on-fire lies coming as we rev up for the 2016 American election season.
The longer I study human psychology, the more impressed I am with the rich tapestry of knowledge each of us owns. We each have a brainy weave of facts, figures, rules and stories that allows us to address an astonishing range of everyday challenges. Contemporary research celebrates just how vast, organized, interconnected and durable that knowledge base is.
Thats the good news. The bad news is that our brains overdo it. Not only do they store helpful and essential information, they are also receptive to false belief and misinformation.
MORE HERE: http://yonside.com/internet-isnt-making-us-smarter/
In the hours since I first sat down to write this piece, my laptop tells me the National Basketball Association has had to deny that it threatened to cancel its 2017 All-Star Game over a new anti-LGBT law in North Carolina a story repeated by many news sources including the Associated Press. The authenticity of that viral video of a bear chasing a female snowboarder in Japan has been called into question. And, no, Ted Cruz is not married to his third cousin. Its just one among an onslaught of half-truths and even pants-on-fire lies coming as we rev up for the 2016 American election season.
The longer I study human psychology, the more impressed I am with the rich tapestry of knowledge each of us owns. We each have a brainy weave of facts, figures, rules and stories that allows us to address an astonishing range of everyday challenges. Contemporary research celebrates just how vast, organized, interconnected and durable that knowledge base is.
Thats the good news. The bad news is that our brains overdo it. Not only do they store helpful and essential information, they are also receptive to false belief and misinformation.
MORE HERE: http://yonside.com/internet-isnt-making-us-smarter/
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Why the Internet isn’t making us smarter – and how to fight back (Original Post)
LuckyTheDog
Apr 2016
OP
The internet makes it massively easier to find out that what you already know is true.
Donald Ian Rankin
Apr 2016
#1
Hogwash! Before the internet, my research into shape-shifting alien lizard people was limited
struggle4progress
Apr 2016
#2
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)1. The internet makes it massively easier to find out that what you already know is true.
It's less useful for finding out that you're wrong about things.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)4. +1000
struggle4progress
(118,359 posts)2. Hogwash! Before the internet, my research into shape-shifting alien lizard people was limited
to telepathic communication with my informants in the Andromeda nebula
Now I can get lots of information using google!
There's a surprising amount known about how reptilians faked the moon-landing in order to kidnap Elvis
But it's all written in code so you have to know how to read websites properly
vanlassie
(5,692 posts)3. I use it daily to stop arguments between a couple of
80 somethings who fight about stuff they can't remember.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)5. But, but... "The Internet makes you think you’re smarter than you really are"