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 | Welcome back. I am your host Presley Foudray. We are joined by two guests today, Carole Cadwalladr and Nicholas Carr. Cadwalladr is the author of “Google, Democracy, and the Truth about Internet Search”. Carr is the author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Please welcome Carole and Nicholas to the stage! Nice to meet the both of you. Thank you for coming on the show. | |
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| You two discussed the internet in your essays, as well as containing “Google” in the title of both of your works. Would each of you elaborate on your experiences you have had on the internet which inspired your essays? Nicholas, you may start. | |
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| Thank you, Presley. Well, in my essay, as you have mentioned, I start off by explaining the difficulties I face with my mind. I don’t think the way I use to think (424). I find myself struggling to read lengthy articles or books, which used to be easy for me. My mind cannot focus, and I always find myself looking for something else to do other than reading. It was a battle to bring my focus back the words on a page. I began to realize what was going on. I spend a lot of time on the Internet nowadays and have been doing so for the last decade (425). As a writer, I can now do a few simple Google searches and the information I need is right there in front of me. In the past, however, I used to research for days in libraries for books with the information I wanted. Contrary to what I first thought, I am not the only individual who struggles with the same problem. People have told me they used to be an avid book reader and one even said they cannot read War and Peace anymore (427). The net is altering the brain. Since we are so used to obtaining information in a matter of seconds, our brain is no longer “fit” for reading long lengthy paragraphs. | |
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| Please explain your view, Carole. | |
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| In my essay, I also discuss the internet, Google in specific, as Mr. Carr does. Similarly to him, I discuss disadvantages and problems that arise from the internet. In particular, results Google provides, specifically on controversial subjects. I begin my essay bluntly. I opened up Google and I typed “a-r-e” and “j-e-w-s” into the search bar (480). Some of the suggested potential questions that popped up were “are jews a race?,” “are jews white?,” and “are jews christians?” However, “are jews evil?” popped up as a suggested search as well (480). I mention that the last question was something I never thought of asking nor that I never went looking for it. Nonetheless, there it was so I clicked on it. Nine out of the first ten results state that Jews are evil. Google’s answer is that Jews are evil. This is not the only Google suggested search similar to this. If you type “are women” in Google, “are women evil?” shows up as a suggested search as well. Every one of the 10 results also states that women are evil. Same with Muslims. The more people click on these links, the more traffic they accumulate, and therefore Google will show them as one of the first results (489). It is terrifying that the internet has this much power to be influencing the thoughts of individuals this way. | |
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