Predicting
the future is a strange thing. No sooner do new developments in technology (or
anything else, for that matter) arise, than they're accompanied by an entourage
of talking heads forecasting either a glorious new dawn or total societal
collapse, depending on which channel you're tuned to. In Smarter Than You
Think, Clive Thompson takes an optimistic view of the digital technologies
of the past two decades. By complimenting our uniquely human faculties, he believes
that they may offer us solutions to problems that have long troubled us, and
expand our capabilities beyond previously assumed limits.
I
was initially concerned that STYT
would be a light-weight version of the heady and analytical book by Nick Harkaway,
The Blind Giant, especially when
Thompson declares that despite the book's subtitle of “how technology is
changing our minds for the better”, he decides to wilfully exclude any mention
of neuroscience or brain imaging. However, my fears were revealed to be
unfounded: not only does he competently defend his decision, but in being
selective about the domains addressed, he frees up additional space for
in-depth analysis of the societal application of these technologies, rather
than parroting a list of contextually divorced lab studies. STYT makes a point that I feel many social
commentators miss: technologies (whether paper, pens or the information-sifting
chimera that is Google) are tools. It is in our application of them in
our daily lives that we derive their positive or negative effects.
In
defending this thesis, Thompson draws from a wide array of examples. Some of
the most interesting include the usage of programming classes to teach children
logical thinking, and to demonstrate the underlying principles of mathematics
in a more concrete and meaningful way. Here, the children are shown in
real-time how the modification of different variables (in the form of a
simplified coding language) create different results on-screen. They guide a
small turtle around via the functions students input, and as turtle draws a
line (much like an etch-a-sketch) behind it, different inputs will create
different “flight paths”, resulting in different pictures. I, for one, wish
that these innovations had been around when I was in elementary school.
Examples
such as this abound, including the Internet's capacity for creating an ambient
awareness of global events, allowing for sociopolitical action on a number of
different scales at a speed scarcely fathomable before the information age; the
proliferation of smartphone cameras forces accountability on normally unwilling
police forces and politicians, for fear that Big Brother is being watched with
just as much vigilance by his younger siblings. In all honesty, the book's
subtitle may be inaccurate, as Thompson's arguments show that rather than
changing the way that our minds work, technology is allowing us to make the
most of the cognitive resources we already possess. With the staggering array of
tools at our fingertips, the challenge now is to develop the skills to know
which is the best to use for a given task. Rather than blaming the tech that we
currently use, Smarter Than You Think places the responsibility on our
shoulders. It’s up to us to pick the right tool for the job, even if our
eventual choice is to forgo modern tech for simpler, analog methods. It is for
this shift in perspective, as well as the fair-minded discussion of issues
surrounding the development and usage of new machinery, that I believe Smarter
Than You Think makes a great addition to any bookshelf.
Vincent Smith is a taoist, aspiring writer, and dyed-in-the-wool psychology geek at the University of Guelph. You can find his writing on video games, comics, movies, and all things geek over at The Rogue's Gallery.
Vincent Smith is a taoist, aspiring writer, and dyed-in-the-wool psychology geek at the University of Guelph. You can find his writing on video games, comics, movies, and all things geek over at The Rogue's Gallery.
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