Meanwhile, Civil Online Discourse Continues…

Over at if:Book, Bob Stein takes serious issue with Steven Johnson’s Everything Bad Is Good For You, a book which proposes that video games and television drama make us “smarter.” He asks:

“How can you define good and bad simply in terms of whether one’s brain is better at multi-tasking and problem-solving? I’ll grant that this shift in raw brain power might make us more effective worker bees for our techno-capitalist society, but it doesn’t mean that the substance of our lives or the social fabric is improved.”

The critique builds and builds, but then Johnson gets to reply. It’s an interesting debate—and it’s still going on, so do have a look.

28 October 2005 | uncategorized |