Summary

In Chapter 9, called “Search, Memory,” Carr claims that Socrates was correct in predicting that people would become less dependent on their memories once they started writing down their thoughts. However, print books also allowed people to learn more than had ever been available before. Carr cited studies about primary and secondary memory and how concussions and seizures could bring about the loss of memories. These discoveries about human memory tamp down the excitement about computers serving as a substitute for human memory, since the machines lack the same nuance as the biology of a human brain. Carr states that the key to maintaining memories is attentiveness, of which internet use has been shown to cause a lack. He writes about how the idea of offloading memory to an external source like the Internet would lead to a loss of identity and culture...