Review | Simon Winchester considers the fate of humankind when machines think for us

Tags

Top Highlights

• Winchester worries “that today’s all-too-readily available stockpile of information will lead to a lowered need for the retention of knowledge, a lessening of thoughtfulness, and a consequent reduction in the appearance of wisdom in society.”

• Because computers can now answer our questions at a keystroke, they cannot help but encourage laziness and intellectual atrophy

• Instant access to digitized information can be a useful adjunct to our daily lives, but it is still no match for the deeply human pleasure of acquiring competency, in learning how to do a difficult thing well all by oneself.

• By allowing computers to function as our brain attics, we might gain the mental space and leisure “to suppose, ponder, ruminate, consider, assess, wonder, contemplate, imagine, dream” and thus become more “thoughtful, considerate, patient” and “wise.”