CoC: Does the web make experts dumb?

[RJN]

http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2010/08/2 ... erts-dumb/

...for centuries, people have made money by having asymmetric access to information.

There’s been a lot of talk about the web and the internet making us dumber. I think it’s more serious than that. What the web does is reduce the capacity for asymmetry in education. Which in turn undermines the exalted status of the expert. The web makes experts “dumb”. By reducing the privileged nature of their expertise.

The web is not making us dumb. It is the expert in us that is being made to look dumb. And that is a Good Thing.

[owlice]

The third poster in the comments area covers pretty well my thoughts. The author of the article focused on power over people. There is power to people that comes with the free flow of information. Information does not need to be held asymmetrically for it to have power; information shared can be far more powerful than information held.

[BMAONE23]

There is a problem though inherent with using the Internet as a source of learning. If you know very little about a subject, say "Red shift and the expansion of the Universe" you would likely try Googling key words and then trying to pour through the millions of hits. You may be fortunate and get good information on your first Google hit. Or , Likely as not, you might get information that is counter scientific belief depending on the phrasing of your search.
If you know nothing on the subject to begin with, you wouldn't know that the information you are attempting to educate yourself with is accurate per scientific theory or from a highly flawed hypothesis.

[orin stepanek]

I think the Internet helps us to compare views! This should open our minds and help us to select what is the the most common view. Mistakes are also shared and helps us to avoid them. I think this makes us smarter.

[Chris Peterson]

I think the Internet helps us to compare views! This should open our minds and help us to select what is the the most common view. Mistakes are also shared and helps us to avoid them. I think this makes us smarter. :)

My impression is that on the whole, it is a resource that makes the smart smarter and the dumb dumber. Smart people use it to extend their knowledge, others use it to reinforce their existing (and often erroneous) knowledge.