"I Hope SOPA Passes"

[Blood Fetish]

Without a doubt the Internet is the greatest leap forward in knowledge sharing since the printing press. I am surprised that so many of you seem to downplay its significance.

 

[exangel]

Expressing that mankind can live without it is not the same as downplaying its' significance.

On the flipside, I'm surprised that anyone believes that the most adaptive species on our planet wouldn't recover from losing access to that tool. To become "absolutely" dependent on possessing this tool, is to resign one's will to independently learn and retain knowledge.

A great philosopher, Plato if my memory serves me, was known to remark that even literacy was a crutch because it relieved the mind of the necessity to remember.

 

[Blood Fetish]

It was indeed Plato who discussed the effects of technology and literacy in Phaedrus. Do you know how I knew that? I looked it up on the Internet. It is impossible for the mind to remember the details of everything in the universe. Why remember what you can reference?

“Never memorize something that you can look up.”​

―​

Albert Einstein

 

[exangel]

Why refuse to be capable of retaining knowledge?

edit:
It's a cop out to simply say it's impossible to remember everything, and therefore don't bother.

The more you depend on the external world, the less will exist internally.

 

[Blood Fetish]

Not a single person in this discussion has argued for refusing the capability to retain knowledge. You are creating a straw man that you can easily defeat.

edit: You are looking at things from the wrong perspective. I am not saying that we should empty our minds and rely solely on external sources. I am saying that in addition to our minds we can utilize the vast resources available to us. We are not made weaker by these things, rather we are made that much stronger.

 

[exangel]

No, I'm not.
I was mirroring your rhetoric.

The mind is better off without "absolute" dependence on the external (such as, choosing to not train one'sself to remember things that are easily referenced).

edit:

All I've been trying to say is that the internet is a tool.
When one ceases to recall the ability to craft without this tool, they're no greater than a tool themself.

 

[Blood Fetish]

The development and usage of tools is one of the defining characteristics of man. It is what makes us great. I fail to see an epidemic of people walking around knowing nothing, utterly dependent upon the Internet to function. Quite the opposite, in fact, as we are more educated and knowledgable now than at any point in human history due in large part to these "tools".

 

[exangel]

On the contrary, I've seen documentaries that show quite clearly that the internet and the omnipresence of information and multitasking reduce the capabilities of critical thinking and reading comprehension. I can go to Netflix to find at least one title to share for certain.

 

[Blood Fetish]

Multitasking reduces overall efficiency. There are several studies supporting this. That is a red herring with regard to the Internet. No one makes you multitask.

edit: It is amusing that you cannot remember all the details of things, so you keep referencing different Internet sources to support your claims, all the while saying the Internet is a detriment.

 

[exangel]

You're only citing one of the aspects of my argument. It's one that goes with the idea that the comfort of total recall (external) causes one to study without focus and fail to comprehend or retain the knowledge they comprehend.

 

[Blood Fetish]

What exactly are you getting at? That, for the good of mankind, we should destroy or otherwise limit access to information?

 

[retKHAAAN]

This discussion now makes so much sense that it has past the point of relevance and begun to lap itself. Congratulations gentlemen...

*edit: and ladies

 

[The Milkman]

I dun gone and start sum of them philosophico debatez hur hur.

 

[exangel]

What exactly are you getting at? That, for the good of mankind, we should destroy or otherwise limit access to information?

Of course not.

I already said it in bold above.
I'll put another perspective down to illustrate.

For the good of the individual, one should not make the error of depending on the internet as their only source of information and communication; nor should the individual make the folly of believing there's no other way/source to achieve great knowledge.


edit:

edit: It is amusing that you cannot remember all the details of things, so you keep referencing different Internet sources to support your claims, all the while saying the Internet is a detriment.

And your response to me forgetting precise sources is of little effect to my overall point anyway. I only referred to Netflix to provide a source for a documentary that I remember clearly, if you wanted that (I just didn't remember with certainty who produced it). The same issue (of forgetting a precise source) could have just as easily come up in a university 100 years ago, working with only analogue journals and catalogued print information. And so far as the Plato reference goes, I have several of his books that I could have used to verify my reference to him (I thought it might've been another philosopher, a glance at forewords would've achieved that verification that you got). In fact, I don't see anywhere that I referenced the internet regarding this point, other than to mention Netflix, Blood Fetish.
Only my prior comments about my 15ish years of experience on the internet & the reference to the Philippines' economy referred to the internet, and that had more to do with fending off Shinigami's aggression than what you've discussed with me.

 

[Koumori_Knight]

Having observed the previous arguments, I have come to the opinion that some people have grown blind to their own independance.
Look at how agressive some people are in defending the internet as a complete and total requirement for life. The internet is a marvelous tool, a fantastic avenue of communication, a wonderful vehicle for free thought and an unmatched method of distribution. However, is it not the bedrock of human exprience and knowledge that makes it such a valuable resource? If not for all the other experiences that people have, away from the internet and before it, would the network on which the information travels be of any real use?
The internet does have great significance, but only because of what we give to it. If we become too dependant on it as the only way of getting, storing or sharing information, I think that we devalue the human ability to learn, adapt and create.

 

[retKHAAAN]

My favorite part of this argument is the fact that the conversation went from a blog about a shitty piece of legislation that never had a chance in the first place, to a debate on whether or not the universe would implode should the internet cease to exist...

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX161ulHrSA

 

[Arnold Schwarzen]

assholes are like opinions. Both has everybody.

 

[Koumori_Knight]

My favorite part of this argument is the fact that the conversation went from a blog about a shitty piece of legislation that never had a chance in the first place, to a debate on whether or not the universe would implode should the internet cease to exist...

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=sX161ulHrSA

Eh....whatcha gonna do...
peoplez liek to argue.

Its kinda fun when you have patently extreme assessments championed by over zealous and angry combatants to play with.
Watching them desolve into FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!! Is adorable and lol inspiring.