Wow.
Has anyone read this book? This is one Kyra is considering for use in her class.
The author, Steven Johnson, posits that the "new" technology--video games, TV, internet--is itself getting smarter and is, in turn, making us smarter: The Sleeper Curve (after the Woody Allen movie). I am already convinced we are re-wiring our brains and evolving them into...something or other....but I'm not sure if that's good, bad, or indifferent.
But wow. What an interesting argument Johnson makes. Read this book!
I can't wait to read its opposite in The Dumbest Generation, the other one Kyra is looking at. Also, I am as of now looking for more of Johnson's books, and, happily, there are plenty.
So who was it who pointed out to me that the IQ tests are continually changing to eliminate cultural bias--so rising IQ scores only "prove" that cultural bias is being eliminated from the testing process, not that society is getting smarter? Hm. Why didn't I think of that.
ReplyDeleteRosemary, you gave me this book at the begnning of the semester, but everytime I try to sit down and read it in the writing center, something comes. Its almost as if the litery gods don't wannt me to read the book. :|
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