We don’t constrain our mental powers when we store new long-term memories. We strengthen them. With each expansion of our memory comes an enlargement of our intelligence. The Web provides a convenient and compelling supplement to personal memory - but when we start using the Web as a substitute for personal memory, by bypassing the inner processes of consolidation, we risk emptying our minds of their riches.
Interpretation
Our memories enhance our intelligence, but relying solely on outside resources can diminish our mental capabilities.
In this quote, Nicholas G. Carr emphasizes the importance of personal memory in enriching our intelligence. He warns that while the internet can assist our memory, over-reliance on it can weaken our cognitive abilities and diminish the depth of knowledge we hold within ourselves.
In practice
In a speech about education technology, one might quote Carr to emphasize the importance of developing personal memory.
What the Net does is shift the emphasis of our intelligence, away from what might be called a meditative or contemplative intelligence and more toward what might be called a utilitarian intelligence. The price of zipping among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking.
Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.
There are no makeovers in my books. The ugly duckling does not become a beautiful swan. She becomes a confident duck able to take charge of her own life and problems.
By moderation one can be generous.
All good qualities must be sown and cultivated. We can’t expect to change overnight from an ordinary person into one with high realizations.
Great men cultivate love and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred; assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.
By the age of eighteen, a human has acquired enough joy and heartache to provide the food of reflection for a century.
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