Surf's Up (Blog #2)

Hubert L. Dreyfus discusses the nature of the internet and its numerous search engines. He highlights the weaknesses of such engines and artificial intelligences throughout the chapter. Ultimately, he concludes that “the loss of embodiment would lead to loss of the ability to recognize relevance” (7).


Dreyfus begins by establishing the vastness of the internet. He notes that the Web has “over a billion pages and it continues to grow at a rate of at leas a million pages a day” (8). The statistic is astounding. It’s not surprising that search engines have such difficulty finding needles in the proverbial haystack. There are no boundaries in cyberspace. It is huge and ever-growing. The linking system can chain together hundreds of sites sometimes having little to do with one another. It is this that leads Dreyfus to believe that:

“The use of the hyper library would no longer be a modern subject with a fixed identity who desires a more complete and reliable model of the world, but rather a postmodern, protean being ready to be opened up to ever new horizons. Such a being is not interested in collecting what is significant but in connecting to as wide a web of information as possible” (11).

Dreyfus further points out that some, namely postmodernists, “embrace hyperlinks as a way of freeing us form anonymous specialists organizing our databases and deciding for us what is relevant” (12).


For Dreyfus, this new world is not desirable. While I agree with and understand many of his concerns, I understand the postmodern view as well. The internet and traditional libraries are two very different things. And neither should be eliminated or overhauled to match the other. Internet and computers can help facilitate library searches. The Kenton County Library is a great example. They have catalogued thousands of newspapers dating back to the 1800s online, making research must faster and more profitable. Searching information on the web at large, however, is not peer reviewed or closely monitored—nor should it be. When seeking info on the web at large, it is very difficult to find exactly what one seeks. This can be a good thing, however. Sometimes, we really don’t know what we want to find, or, at least, we can be turned toward fruitful new avenues of inquiry.


For example, I was searching information about actor William Katt of “Greatest American Hero” fame--not exactly the highest philosophical pursuit, but it pertains to the discussion. I ended up uncovering a totally unrelated item, a 1980s sitcom called “Sledge Hammer”. The premise so intrigued me that I bought the DVD. It turned out to be a great production. The only search element that linked the two, however, was the DVD production house for both “Greatest American Hero” and “Sledge Hammer”.


Sometimes random, loosely linked, information can be good. We are not so much disembodied; rather, our imaginations are given more free space to roam. In addition, and almost ironically, the internet has a very human element as well. It has developed organically over the years; reflecting the interests of specific people or large groups. It can even promote community. Message boards, blogs and fan communities are huge online. It has expanded the conversing public that Immanuel Kant believed was crucial for an enlightened society. While much of online chatter could scarcely be described as conversation, let alone scholarly debate, there are exceptions, like the blog we are posting in right now. As with education, it is up to the individual to make the best of what they discover and use it to better themselves and others. Of course, time should always be made for trivial pursuits. You never know what you might unearth.

Iris