In the selected article from his book “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains”, Nicholas G. Carr explains to his readers how reading & writing came to be, it 's effects on the brain, and what both Plato and Socrates thought about the subjects (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains).
According to Carr, writing began in the year 8000 BC, when people would use small clay tokens that were engraved with symbols as a way to keep track of livestock and goods (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains). Then during the end of the fourth century BC, the Sumerians and Egyptians both developed their own systems of writings called cuneiform and hieroglyphs respectively. Cuneiform was a system of …show more content…
Most particularly to the brain. Neurologists have found that as our ancestors began to read and write, their brains began to shape itself in order to allow for the new knowledge it was being fed. For example, during the early days of writing when people made simple symbolic engravements on clay tokens, these engravings caused their brains to develop new neural pathways, thus connecting the visual cortex with the sense-making areas of the brain, responsible for sophisticated visual and conceptual processing. This was then passed down through their children through extensive training (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains). The human brain underwent further development following the rise of cuneiform and hieroglyphs. Because these systems of writing were different from the simple engravings found on the clay tokens of early humans, the Sumerians and Egyptians had to develop neural circuits that linked together the sense-making, hearing, spatial analysis, and decision making areas of the brain (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains). Even today our brains have been and are shaped by reading and writing. However, this does not mean that everyone 's brains are shaped the same way. According to neurological experiments, the mental circuitry of those whose reading and writing utilizes logographic symbols differ significantly from the mental …show more content…
However, you would be wrong. In fact, several people thought that reading and writing would actually lead to people getting dumber. Among these people were the great philosopher and orator Socrates, who believed that reading and writing would cause people to become forgetful (Plato, Phaedrus ). Socrates further believed that reading and writing caused one to “seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing.” and be “filled, not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom (Plato, Phaedrus).” He does, however, acknowledge that writing has some benefits such “as memorials against the forgetfulness of old age (Plato, Phaedrus)”, but for the most part believed that reading and writing was detrimental to humankind, turning us into shallow thinkers and preventing us from achieving wisdom and happiness (Plato, Phaedrus). Plato, on the other hand, had the opposite view of reading and writing. Unlike Socrates, he believed that reading and writing encouraged a logical, rigorous, and self-reliant state of mind, and saw the intellectual benefits that it brought to civilization (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our
According to Carr, writing began in the year 8000 BC, when people would use small clay tokens that were engraved with symbols as a way to keep track of livestock and goods (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains). Then during the end of the fourth century BC, the Sumerians and Egyptians both developed their own systems of writings called cuneiform and hieroglyphs respectively. Cuneiform was a system of …show more content…
Most particularly to the brain. Neurologists have found that as our ancestors began to read and write, their brains began to shape itself in order to allow for the new knowledge it was being fed. For example, during the early days of writing when people made simple symbolic engravements on clay tokens, these engravings caused their brains to develop new neural pathways, thus connecting the visual cortex with the sense-making areas of the brain, responsible for sophisticated visual and conceptual processing. This was then passed down through their children through extensive training (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains). The human brain underwent further development following the rise of cuneiform and hieroglyphs. Because these systems of writing were different from the simple engravings found on the clay tokens of early humans, the Sumerians and Egyptians had to develop neural circuits that linked together the sense-making, hearing, spatial analysis, and decision making areas of the brain (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains). Even today our brains have been and are shaped by reading and writing. However, this does not mean that everyone 's brains are shaped the same way. According to neurological experiments, the mental circuitry of those whose reading and writing utilizes logographic symbols differ significantly from the mental …show more content…
However, you would be wrong. In fact, several people thought that reading and writing would actually lead to people getting dumber. Among these people were the great philosopher and orator Socrates, who believed that reading and writing would cause people to become forgetful (Plato, Phaedrus ). Socrates further believed that reading and writing caused one to “seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing.” and be “filled, not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom (Plato, Phaedrus).” He does, however, acknowledge that writing has some benefits such “as memorials against the forgetfulness of old age (Plato, Phaedrus)”, but for the most part believed that reading and writing was detrimental to humankind, turning us into shallow thinkers and preventing us from achieving wisdom and happiness (Plato, Phaedrus). Plato, on the other hand, had the opposite view of reading and writing. Unlike Socrates, he believed that reading and writing encouraged a logical, rigorous, and self-reliant state of mind, and saw the intellectual benefits that it brought to civilization (Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our