Nicholas Carr in the article “Rural > City > Cyberspace: The biggest migration in human history” reports the effects of the technological advance and urbanization on the human brain capacities. The author concentrates on informing the audience about the positive influence of nature and rural setting on the memory, attentiveness and cognitive skills and provides recent psychological research’s results to prove his points. Carr argues that the exposure to nature leads to improvement in cognition, while the noise and pace of urban area do not have any positive influence. The author also claims that modern lifestyle and constant information flow threaten human ability to feel and identify high-level emotions due to increased distractions and diminished contemplation capacities. Carr agrees with those who believe that people are capable of evolving and adapting to new circumstances of all-round connectivity and information density; however, he insists that reflection and contemplation are key components of mental and psychological health, and this adaptation can irreversibly change the human nature.
In the era of evolving artificial intelligence the issue of humanity and its connection to technological advance is a novel topic for the discussion and research. Is it possible that the artificial intelligence will become humane in the long run, while the human brain will develop the features of mathematical only thinking? The question is terrifying, but the topic should be definitely studied to ensure that the society copes with the struggles it may face. Therefore, I completely agree with the ideas presented in the article, as the author analyzes the issue of technology influence on our brains from different perspectives that make the audience think about the everyday world in a new way. Carr is really persuasive in his attempts to show that despite all the positive advances, the essence of humanity, the empathy and contemplation are threatened by the instant connectivity and total immersion in information. I believe that it is essential for the society to remember what it means to be human, and exert efforts to preserve the reflective thinking and acknowledge the importance of silence and nature for the development and growth.
Work cited
Carr, Nicholas “Rural>City>Cyberspace: The Biggest Migration in Human History.”
Adbusters 99 (2012). Web.
