Our New Brains

Posted on 12. Mar, 2010 by Staff in Editorial

We are living in an incredibly exciting time. The computer and the internet are the new printing press, the new technologies that revolutionize the way we obtain and process information, the way we communicate, the very way we think.

As with any revolutionary invention, we are living in a time of cultural flux. The internet is so new that frankly, we don’t have a clue what to do with it. Certainly we understand some of the things we can use it for, but culturally, at least, we are frequently unaware of the ways that it has reshaped who we are.

This issue is not meant to advocate that we all become Borg or androids, nor is it meant to advocate that we become isolationist Luddites. These are informative, speculative, and opinion pieces, all rolled into one (we’ve not yet followed categorical journalism rules; why should we start now?). Most importantly, they are meant to elicit a response—a dialogue.

The “Madison Johnson Incident” is wholly indicative of why we so desperately need this sort of dialogue. People claim that the whole thing was unethical, that it crossed lines of privacy and decency, but quite honestly, our internet culture is not so stringently defined. Precisely because of this ambiguity, we need to discuss. We need to explore what the internet does, how it changes who we are.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this whole phenomenon is that we can symbiotically define the ways that the internet defines us, even as it does so. We have the power to shape our culture, to decide what is appropriate and what is not, what is proper internet etiquette, how things change and why, and ultimately, who we are.

It is arguable that humans use technology as our own microevolutionary mechanism (For the record, this is not advocating either side of the Creation v. Evolution debate; we are simply saying that we use it to progress. Calm down.). Clothes have become an extension of our skin, swords and guns extensions of our teeth and nails, writing an extension of our mouths and ears—and now, the internet an extension of our minds. We, the intellectuals and academics of our generation, hold the power and responsibility to make certain that this is a change for the better.

Let the discussion begin.

Tags: 86.8, Featured, mind, technology