The internet has become a greatly used tool over past years. It has both pros and cons. In the Dreyfus reading the pros and cons of the internet are discussed. The example used in the book was library browsing. You can search a library and interestingly browse for material pertaining to a certain topic. When you use the internet you can search for key terms and get tons of hits but none of them maybe relevant. This idea of believing we are getting great results from the internet even though they are not relevant is called the fallacy of abundance. Yet, when you go to a library you rely on hierarchal organization to find what is relevant to your search.
It was said,”[that the] internet is not another tool…but that it expresses the essence of technology.” The main goal of this technology is to gain a lot of information with ease. All of this information suggests the idea of disembodiment. That when we search the internet our mind actually leaves our body. I know personally that I can spend an hour or two on the web and not realize how much time has passed. The body is the main starting point for human experience. This is why computers will never have the same common sense as humans, our frame of reference differs greatly from a computer. The idea of a computer having the same common knowledge as a human is an impossible goal. A goal that is not to far fetched is that the Extropians believe that eventually humans will gain eternal life through technology by having us downloaded. The idea of eternal life is great, but I believe dying a natural death is the circle of life.
Some of the pros of the internet are it helps people communicate across great distances, it is a good source of information, you can store tons of data and it can be used for professional networking. The internet does have some drawbacks to it. The information you receive from it may not always be valid, there is spamming and pop-ups and there are time consuming sites that don’t let you accomplish much i.e. facebook.
Personally I believe the internet is a great tool. I could not go from having the internet to not having all of the technology and information it offers.
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Journal Entry 1
As technology throughout the world keep on improving, we are replying more on these technological advances to help us with are daily routines. I remember 10 years ago, the best way to get the showtimes for a movies before going to the movie theater was calling the moviephone which takes forever the times of even one movie. Today, I can go on yahoo.com and check on the movies showtimes in a matter of a few seconds. In Dreyfus's book, he mentioned that technology is apart of a body. What he means is that everything we do involves technology assisting us. Also we relied on technology so much that if these tools were removed away from us that it might be difficult to survive without them. In other words, it is almost like you were to lose to one of your five senses.
Even though, the internet is an essential tool for us human beings, there are some negative consequences of the internet. One is that internet can isolate you from other people. One example is this new online game that is taking this country by storm is the World of Warcraft aka WOW. From my observations in the Ackerman Residence Halls, the students who WOW are usually the nerds or outsiders who will spend most of the day in their dorms playing this addictive game. Therefore, they really socialize with anybody which leads to inherited poor people skills.
These online dating services such as E.harmony.com screw you over when finding a potential significant other. You may meet a person who claims that they are as looking as Brad Pitt and Beyonce and then you meet them and they turn out to look like Rosie O'Donnell's sister.
But there are some positive consequences of the internet. One is that the internet help people make new friendships and reestablished old ones. I remember when I was down in my hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida from January to August of 2007, I used the world famous website myspace.com to get in touch with friends who I have not see since high school.
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