Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Smarter Than You Think -- Reflections

[Smarter Than You Think]

Well, we've completed Smarter Than You Think. What's one idea that you find most challenging or surprising concerning Clive Thompson's book? Why or how so?


30 comments:

Candace P said...

One idea that I found most surprising was Thompson's view concerning the educational system, which can be found in Chapter 7: "Digital School." Within this chapter, Thompson explains that "Most attempts to use digital technology in education focus on having students learn programs: word processing programs, presentation programs, microblogging tools, search engines", which are things that I integrate into my classroom (as a student teacher) on a consistent basis. However, I think that allowing myself to utilize resources such as Khan Academy is bittersweet because resources of this matter may begin to take over instructional time with students.

Jacquelene G said...

One of the most challenging or surprising thing I found in Clive Thompson's book was the fact that technology can have good effects such as the instance in which it helped the pharmacists to be more efficient. However, it can also "dumb down" society such as the instance where he talks about the fact that the robots can search things faster but this would ultimately end up taking over tons of human's jobs. So, there is good and bad; I feel it is only bad when taken to the extreme.

Jac`quelene G.

C. S. said...

Smarter Than You Think was more than just technology today. It was discussing our future and what may or may not come with the development of technology - beyond our understanding. As we adapt, so will our technology. Thompson did a great job portraying this innovation, which impacted me the most.
Chante S.

Jacqueline C. said...

One idea I find most challenging is Chapter 3, about Public thinking. The fact that the internet has changed many things and how people communicate differently makes me feel like people lack the face-to-face social skills. While technology can be used for good, there are negative impacts as well. I believe that finding the balance between interacting socially and through the internet is a big struggle for many people this current day.

Kelsey W said...

My favorite section in the book and the one that I found most interesting was The Digital School. I could very easily relate to it and it's something that should be very important to us and our lives. Some people are so beyond smart and it just sets a fire in me to do better and learn more any way that I can. The next generations will fuel kids in ways never before seen with the incline of technology.

Sandra N said...

One chapter I found very interesting was Public Thinking. Technology and social media has made face-to-face contact almost nonexistent. It has made it easier to hide behind a phone or a computer rather than seeing people and talking in person. Technology has helped with various new inventions, but it has also made people dependent on it.

Kayleigh E. said...

The one thing that I found most interesting, and stuck with me throughout the whole book, was the part about the video recording. When the man recorded his entire life for weeks and realized how much he remembered wrong. It definitely made me wonder what things I remember wrong. The brain can only hold so much data, and our perceptions make experiences different for everyone. Technology captures what truly happens. It would be weird to have every single moment captured on technology though.

Unknown said...

I think this book was a great asset to my critical thinking. Overall, I think the most complex concept was the one I just wrote about the control of technology. I find this ideology intriguing because of the inclining probability of its occurrence. In a world like today's, technology is already expanding and capitalizing; we're just waiting for it to take full control now.

Unknown said...

What I found that was the most interesting in the book was when Clive made reference to the fact that (Chapter 1) they conducted an experiment to see how intelligent computers were compared to humans when playing chess. I normally just look up information on google or through a search engine. I never thought of computers ever being smarter than our human brains I thought the book its self was very interesting. great read.

Alexandra J said...

Smarter Than You Think really opened my eyes to many ideas. But, I think that the most interesting thing about this book is the fact that the younger generations will have to deal with these changes in the near future. Even now, there are online classes and technology is starting to consume our daily lives. Humans created technological advancements to enhance our learning, communication and growth as a society but with that we have also limited our communication due to lack of face-to-face contact and use of Google to find answers instantly instead of picking up a book. On the other hand, technology has enhanced our ability to learn and help learning flourish. What's crazy to think about is that we are starting to make technology that is taking over the use of people entirely, particular in the medical field. It is an interesting idea to wrap our heads around.

Olivia Slater said...

The thing that I found most challenging about the book was Thompson's view that technology can be bad. I agree, however it really made me think about the negative effects of technology on society. The future is at risk; technology taking jobs and society becoming completely reliant on technology is almost inevitable. Because of this book I think about the negative aspects of technology rather than simply all the good it does for humanity.

Andrea R. said...

One of the things I found most interesting or surprising from the book was the chapter on memory. Because many people believe that you remember things as they happened when they happened, as opposed to remembering them as they happened last time you remembered them. Another reason why I found this chapter to be surprising is because it also points out the ways in which we use technology to remember events and things as well as people. Reason being is because you don't exactly realize it as it's happening until someone points it out to you.

Mercedes H said...

The one thing that stood out the most to me was the chapter discussing memory. It hit home because when he talked about people thinking they remember what they say and do but they don't remember correctly it sounded exactly like me. The situation in which the man recorded his daily life and then analyzed it was absolutely shocking because it opened my eyes to seeing that not everyone remembers what they do how they think they did it. I am definitely the type of person who just lives in the moment and don't really pay close attention to the things I do as much as I think I do. Well, this chapter definitely made me start analyzing and paying closer attention to my actions and words; however, I would not want to be on video all the time just to remember correctly because that's kind of creepy.

Shervonti N said...

The concept that I found most interesting was towards the beginning of the book when the flipped classroom idea was discussed. I feel that if that concept could catch on in more schools then many more children would be able to reach their full potential. The way in which it was explained in the book consisted of children working at different levels and asking for assistance when needed. The teacher is able to stress certain points with certain children or let some just blossom on their own. It's a good idea to me and the way it was even possible was resources provided by the internet.

I'm sure if it ever were to REALLY catch on, it would take a lot of time and probably more money than some schools can afford but it's a very good idea to me and it could be the future of each classroom.

Unknown said...

One of the things I found most surprising was the experiment conducted to see if a computer could outsmart a human in playing chess. This chapter was interesting because I'd never really took the time to sit and think about how many things the computer can do and how many ways the computer could actually outsmart/how it often does possess more knowledge. This makes sense considering the fact that it is a database full of information, although chess is only a game. This scenario can be applied to much broader things and lead you to question rather or not a computer could actually outsmart its creators. Leading to another question of is there such a thing as knowing too much.
- Tiera Williams

Unknown said...

One of the things I found most surprising was the experiment conducted to see if a computer could outsmart a human in playing chess. This chapter was interesting because I'd never really took the time to sit and think about how many things the computer can do and how many ways the computer could actually outsmart/how it often does possess more knowledge. This makes sense considering the fact that it is a database full of information, although chess is only a game. This scenario can be applied to much broader things and lead you to question rather or not a computer could actually outsmart its creators. Leading to another question of is there such a thing as knowing too much.
- Tiera Williams

Jenee' B. said...

One idea that stuck out and sort of surprised me was the concept of collective thinking. Many of the examples the author gave in the book about different ways that people have collaborated throughout history, especially in modern times, were very interesting. These examples helped to support the fact that to get the most accomplished, people need to work together.

Jessica Oranika said...

One thing that I found interesting about the book was the way he both celebrated the improvements in our society due to technology, but also pointed out the possible negative effects such as decreased social skills and human jobs being taken.

Anitra B. said...

This book was an interesting read. The thing that I found most surprising was in the first chapter with the experiment to see if computers or humans were smarter than each other. I found it surprising because I definitely thought that the computers would be smarter than then humans, but it turned out that neither were smarter, and that they worked best together. I also found the "Digital School" chapter interesting because I like the idea of technology being integrated into school work as we become more of an electronic generation. Doing so also allows children to learn at the own pace without "slowing others down".

Unknown said...

I found his comment on how technology was helpful and also "dumbing down" our society. Technology is helping us to get information instantly, but it has also made people lazy to finding information on their own. We've also dumbed down our writing skills to fit 140 characters.

Ashley Bass said...

One of the things that I find most challenging from Clive Thompson's book is where he discussed memory. He stated that some memories should should be forgotten. It is impossible to try and learn new things or move on from a bad experience if you do not forget some memories. I have a hard time forgetting and moving on from things, so I liked that I could relate to the chapter and he could provide me with insight.

Unknown said...

I think the most interesting part to me would be how technology is being integrated into the scho system. To know that books will probably be turned all to digitial copies and classes might be all online it's amazing to see because computers and email wasn't invented yet when school and organized education was founded.

Mikaela S said...

One idea that I found most challenging or surprising concerning Clive Thompson's book was the fact that technology has had negative effects on society. While I understand how social media and such things can be major distractions, and some internet helpers make things much easier for people, I see technology as a very helpful resource. Instead of technology having "negative effects" I see it as a way to get ahead.

Kiana S said...

I found chapter 3 to be the most memorable and surprising. There are over 12 billion texts sent every single day. Like I said in a previous post, that means that everyone could send a text in a day almost twice. This statistic blows my mind. I really could not function without the use of the internet or my cell phone for that matter. I never really realized how important it was until I was given the chance to reflect on it.

Kiara Gay said...

The thing i found most challenging about reading this book was believing if the advancements in the technological world is helping us or defeating the human race. Even though we have all of the information at our fingertips, is it worse than having to go find information on our own, or something like a computer finding it for us so we have more time in our lives to do other things. Regardless of whether we find the information ourselves we still learn the information if it takes us 5 minutes to type it into google search engine, or 5 days from researching in the library.

Jade G said...

The most challenging thing that I discovered while reading this book is how technology affects society. There are good and bad effects of technology. Some good effects are that technology can help make research more effective and broaden your learning environment. Some bad effects are that some people get too round up into technology that they don't think for themselves.

Unknown said...

I found the part where he talked about how technology can have good and bad affects. They are good because it helps us function better and we are able to do more things in society but it is bad because we take it for granted and we cannot do the simplest of tasks without technology and how it has become our whole lives and we would not know what to do without it if it were to be gone. I get both aspects of it because we do take technology for granted because it is there and it is constantly changing but I still think we need to learn the basics as well, just in case we need it because if the technology breaks down, and we do not know the basics, then we are going to be screwed.

Unknown said...

One of the most challenging ideas came from the idea that technology is increasing, but it can have both good and bad effects on us as people. On one hand technological advances do things like improve educational practices and help with medical breakthroughs, but on the other hand can make Americans and the inhabitants of the world lazy and dependent. I think this idea is so complex because we cannot stop the evolving technologies, but we do have a responsibility to find that fine line between help and hindrance and allow technology to advance us not advance for us.

Unknown said...

The thing that I found most surprising was the computer program used to teach those kids algebra and trigonometry. This shows that because of technology kids are able to learn so much more, than we were when we were kids. This shows how technology is evolving and reforming education for the better. A concept I never even noticed before, because I was not appreciating it fully.

Unknown said...

I think that the chapter that stuck with me was the Digital school chapter. The concept that technology can benefit you, or not..or even be the same. I can do the same thing with a piece of paper, but technology is better with our generation.
-B. Nigeda