British Inventor Criticizes 'Brain-Dead' Google Generation

[Guest]

What needs to be understood is that studies have proven you will remember what tool to use in order to get the job done. If Google is that tool, instead of analytical thinking (IE: Using your knowledge to find out the root of a problem) then you will constantly go to google for that information. Once google is gone, and for his arguement...i assume all search engines, the majority of the younger generation will not be able to find out how to acquire the knowledge to fix any issues they may be experiencing.

 

[alidan]

kids probably read more now because of the internet than they would have without it...

i thought myself to read because of video games when i VERY young, and ever sense than i have had as teachers put it, above average reading comprehension.

with math, you know why i got bad grades?
i never did homework.
2-3 weeks of 50-100 problems a day and than a test...
i did as little homework as i had to and relied on getting an A on the test, which i almost always did...
in trig i never did a piece of homework, but learned all i needed to the day before a test, i got anywhere from a c to a low a, but i was constantly among the top of class on test results.

internet has made me smarter, and before that, videogames... how many 5 year olds do you know that could read a full magazine and comprehend almost everything they read?

 

[icepick314]

is there a saying sign of true intelligence is knowing how little you know?

Google can be helpful but you still need to sort through all the results and find information you need...

you still need "intelligence" to know the difference between fact and fiction...

 

[ln030921]

The old man is probably just cranky because he couldn't get his email set up

 

[Guest]

I wouldn't call it brain dead, just dependant. But in the style of Darth Vader, "Your Google Searches are insignificant next to the power of the mind."

 

[Guest]

Have You tried do do any academic research with Google! Google is an unmanaged Heap of weblinks to mostly superfical/anecdotal information Via the outright misleading Tags, that every click bait webiste loads their HTML with, to obfuscate the researcher from the desired information, so as to lead the user through as many shopping Isles as possible before, If ever, that user finds the nessary academic materal! I use the public library's online portal to the standard research databases that have been around much longer than Google!

 

[Guest]

FIX do do with to do! Although like the dodo, useful information appears to be going that way on Google!

 

[tanjo]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]kids probably read more now because of the internet than they would have without it...i thought myself to read because of video games when i VERY young, and ever sense than i have had as teachers put it, above average reading comprehension.with math, you know why i got bad grades? i never did homework. 2-3 weeks of 50-100 problems a day and than a test... i did as little homework as i had to and relied on getting an A on the test, which i almost always did...in trig i never did a piece of homework, but learned all i needed to the day before a test, i got anywhere from a c to a low a, but i was constantly among the top of class on test results.internet has made me smarter, and before that, videogames... how many 5 year olds do you know that could read a full magazine and comprehend almost everything they read?[/citation]
You're (almost) a good example of what the old man was saying. Try doing the tests again a month (or two) later without studying a day before and see what the results are.

People will skip learning the fundamentals if they can get the answers to complex problems online. The process of learning from the ground up seems tedious for the today's youth. Ask them to multiply 5 digit numbers with a calculator and they will give you the answer easily. Give them a pen and paper and you'd get a blank stare.

Better wise than smart... especially when your 'smarts' isn't yours.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

Solution: Get a Verizon Google phone. You can Google stuff anywhere. Seems like every other network blows and has too many dead areas. Go brain-dead never again!

 

[Guest]

This just in, crotchety old guy makes sweeping generalization of younger generation!

 

[dfusco]

..and at the end of the interview he shouted, "Hey, get off my lawn!"

 

[maestintaolius]

Reading this just makes me think about what Douglas Adams said about the internet:

I suppose earlier generations had to sit through all this huffing and puffing with the invention of television, the phone, cinema, radio, the car, the bicycle, printing, the wheel and so on, but you would think we would learn the way these things work, which is this:

1) everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;

2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;

3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to work out how old you are.

 

[john_e]

Somehow I think he mistook Google for Facebook.

 

[Guest]

Trevor Baylis needs to adjust the onion on his belt, and pull up boot straps.

 

[Guest]

I understand both their points. However, my education only started after I graduated college. It was only through the Internet that I understood real politics, real business, and REAL life instead of the bullshit that was fed to me. If my education were only 'school' then I would be a mindless zombie right now. The biggest problem are uninformed zombies being led by selfish politicians and corporations. These same fools are raising uninformed zombie kids. The Internet SAVED me and millions of others from that fate. The Internet is a tool. Some will choose to search for jokes, while others will invent a way to quickly sequence genomes on the cheap.

However, I do see the dependence on "blackboxes" like calculators and Google as a huge downside. People MUST learn the basics. I feel that there are certain skills that should always be taught to perfection - reading, writing, math, logic, interpersonal skills etc. The world wide web is a perfect place for reference material. It just increases your efficiency to the maxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]tanjo[/nom]You're (almost) a good example of what the old man was saying. Try doing the tests again a month (or two) later without studying a day before and see what the results are. People will skip learning the fundamentals if they can get the answers to complex problems online. The process of learning from the ground up seems tedious for the today's youth. Ask them to multiply 5 digit numbers with a calculator and they will give you the answer easily. Give them a pen and paper and you'd get a blank stare.Better wise than smart... especially when your 'smarts' isn't yours.[/citation]

a few years later actually, and i still remember the basics of how to do it, better than most people retain their math skills at least.

i help my little brother with his homework now, thats why i know.

the fundamentals as you put it were weeks of 50-100 problems a day, nothing but a pointless time sink, especially to people who grasp how you get something the day you teach it to them.

hell the classes where my grades were the best were the ones where i had a practical use for the information, take chemistry for example. we did a lab every single day, and did more or less the same crap we learned in the beginning all year, yet it never once became tedious for me, because i could see how the crap i was doing applied.

now go you math where we got a few hundred problems like this Y=2+3((X^2)-3) when Y equals 5. problems like that i can do in my head, and i believe it comes to X=2 yet i had to show about 7 lines of work showing how i got it, and i'm not lying when i said they gave us anywhere from 50-100 of these a day, tedious work for someone who is already ready to learn what happens next.

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

[citation][nom]Mastashake15[/nom]I don't agree with everything he's saying, but one thing that is for sure is that we are headed on a dangerous road with the tech we are coming up with. Nanochips inserted into our brains, computers that are smarter and more powerful than us, it won't be long before we can't even function without them. We will build technology so fast that we as consumers won't be able to imagine a world without it, and if it ever fails or is taken away, we will return to the dark ages. I think at this point right now in time, we have gone as far as we need to go for a long while with tech. Maybe after another 50 years or so we will be smart enough to continue and develop.[/citation]

You're horribly lethally wrong in my opinion. We don't have a choice but to improve technology. If science and technology do not advance at a sufficiently high rate then humanity will descend into an apocalypse. I'd say we are getting closer to this dystopia rather than utopia judging by the recent changes in the world economy. Hopefully, Ray Kurzweil getting hired by Google will help turn us around.

 

[immanuel_aj]

[citation][nom]Mastashake15[/nom]I don't agree with everything he's saying, but one thing that is for sure is that we are headed on a dangerous road with the tech we are coming up with. Nanochips inserted into our brains, computers that are smarter and more powerful than us, it won't be long before we can't even function without them. We will build technology so fast that we as consumers won't be able to imagine a world without it, and if it ever fails or is taken away, we will return to the dark ages. [/citation]

Actually, we are ALREADY at that stage. The stock exchanges, banks and other organisations that control the flow of money are highly dependent on computers. If a massive unrecoverable failure were to occur, all your money in your bank could disappear just like that. Of course, the chance of that happening is very, very slim.

 

[bllue]

Why learn and memorize things when you can just google them when you need it?

That's what goes in the heads of kids of today

 

[jasonkaler]

The only skill kids have today is how to type key words into google and then copy-paste.
No wonder the average IQ is dropping.