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Is Google destroying our general knowledge

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    Is Google destroying our general knowledge

    Everyone seems to rely on Google for information these days, particularly the 'yoof' of our society.

    Do you believe that Google is destroying our general knowledge - much as you could argue the electronic calculator destroyed our powers of mental arithmetic?

    Poll will magically appear shortly...
    19
    Yes, people have tulipe general knowledge these days
    36.84%
    7
    No, Google enhances it numb nuts
    42.11%
    8
    I don't know, let me Google it...
    10.53%
    2
    I ask andyw everything, he is the all-knowing CUK oracle
    10.53%
    2
    You can lead a fool to wisdom but you can't make him think.

    #2
    Originally posted by Amiga500 View Post
    Everyone seems to rely on Google for information these days, particularly the 'yoof' of our society.

    Do you believe that Google is destroying our general knowledge - much as you could argue the electronic calculator destroyed our powers of mental arithmetic?

    Poll will magically appear shortly...
    I will have to google for the answer to that one...

    Comment


      #3
      I think it's the other way round - it increases mine.

      All those little questions you ask yourself throughout the day and would never realistically get round to looking up via 'traditional' means are only a click away so i find myself Googling random tat all the time. Once looked up, its retained, so don't see how it could ruin knowledge?
      Last edited by Durbs; 29 May 2009, 14:06.

      Comment


        #4
        I find it generally increases what little I have, as with sites like wikipedia etc, i find myself being led from one article to the next


        Fascinating really........
        Who has time? Who has time? But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Durbs View Post
          I think it's the other way round - it increases mine.

          All those little questions you ask yourself throughout the day and would never realistically get round to looking up via 'traditional' means are only a click away so i find myself Googling random tat all the time. Once looked up, its retained so don't see how it could ruin knowledge?
          Well, for example many people would not memorise capitals of the world as they may have done in the past as they could just Google it... The same goes for historical dates and so on...
          You can lead a fool to wisdom but you can't make him think.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by stingman123 View Post
            I find it generally increases what little I have, as with sites like wikipedia etc, i find myself being led from one article to the next


            Fascinating really........
            The problem is the quality/reliability of information on Wikipedia, I edit articles myself on occasion and changes appear instantly - I should test using erroneous dates and see if it's noticed, I would guess not a lot of the time. Brittanica et al would be more reliable yet more out-of-date of course.
            You can lead a fool to wisdom but you can't make him think.

            Comment


              #7
              It's like following a recipe rather than being a good cook. You can get a result, but you still don't know anything.

              You don't believe me? Give me 10 minutes and then check Wikipedia

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Amiga500 View Post
                Everyone seems to rely on Google for information these days, particularly the 'yoof' of our society.

                Do you believe that Google is destroying our general knowledge - much as you could argue the electronic calculator destroyed our powers of mental arithmetic?

                Poll will magically appear shortly...
                Real knowledge is not just a collection of facts; but a collection of facts can build a foundation for real knowledge. Therefore if you do not have this "general knowledge", you may lack the building bricks for real understanding. You can always google the answer to any particular question, but what questions are you asking?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Amiga500 : Everyone seems to rely on Google for information these days, particularly the 'yoof' of our society.
                  I spoke to someone last week who has biologically reproduced, and she was saying that one of her spawn (a 12 year old female) used the Interweb for all her homework, and relied quite heavily on Wikipedia.

                  The mother tried to remonstrate with her juvenile that Wikipedia was not a 100% reliable nor trustworthy source of information.

                  Said juvenile replied "Whatever, but then you cannot believe everything you read in a book anyway, so what's the difference ?"
                  Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

                  C.S. Lewis

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Is it just me or did anyone else google "is google destroying our general knowledge"?

                    I have no capacity to think for myself so I cannot answer that question.

                    Comment

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