Clive Thompsons

Throughout our everyday lives whether we think about it or not. Computers and technology are and have been an integral part of our lives. Computers and technology assist us with so much, such as the way we drive and the way we learn. We no longer have to deal with the hassle of driving stick and we no longer have to be in a physical classroom with the advent of online education. In Clive Thompsons’ essay “Smarter than you think how technology is changing our minds for the better,” he discusses how the ever changing capacity of technology improves the mental cognition of human beings.

One of the main points that Clive Thompson poses. Is that technology should be used as a tool. He brings up as an example the most strategic and tactically driven

game of all chess. More specifically how in nineteen ninety-seven the grand master chess champion Gary Kasparov played against IBM’ S Deep blue super computer and lost .Thompson elaborates on how Kasparov pondered the idea of using computers in competition. A human and a computer versus another computer and a human. As they would play, a player would make a judgement then reassess it in the computer’s data base, hence using the computer as a tool. As an outcome the two opponents were forced to make split second decisions like a computer program improving their overall mental cognition.
Furthermore Clive Thompson discusses that we as human beings are becoming more like computers ourselves.

As he says “our tools are everywhere linked with are minds working in tandem” (347). Like computers we are now able to retain more information than ever. And just as how computers are linked together we as a race are as well with being able to communicate with each other more efficiently. He also backs up his point with the extended mind theory. It basically states that humans are dominant because we use our minds to create things that alter our thinking process. He uses books and paper as examples how we used these tools to store information and increase our memory as well as put down our thoughts on paper. These were very primitive technologies. But there effect on our mental cognition are the same as that of computers. Making us as Clive Thompson believes more like computers in the sense we are able to store more

information.
Another topic Clive Thompson discusses is the positive trend of technology in our culture. One of the aspects he considers is public thinking. And how social media allows us to improve our minds by listening to the insight of others. As he says ‘‘were becoming more conversational thinkers’’ (352). Clive Thompson finds it very positive how we can spread knowledge and ideas on the internet. He makes a reference to Wikipedia which he calls “a global forest of eloquent bloggers, citizen journalism, political fact checking” (352-353). He also makes the point that we refine our tools. And how books from the past have been refined as have computers. Thus technology is positive on our culture.
Clive Thompson also talks about how technology speeds things up in our daily lives and how we can become faster learners.

And the skills we try to learn can be less strenuous to obtain. He takes us back to kasparov and how when he was coming about in the soviet union only a few kids that showed promise could get lessons from a grand master and then be able to access records to famous chess games. Clive Thompson considers the fact that computers have leveled the playing field. Now any kid anywhere in the world that has access to the internet can learn more about chess games. Playing an artificial opponent made the game a little faster and the instincts of a player became fast as well. A player could also experiment and see what the outcome of different moves could be. This also means grandmaster players are being produced at a much younger age than ever before. He makes a reference to grand master Bobby Fischer who became a grand master at age fifteen. He does this to show how with the emergence of computers new grand masters are getting younger and younger. Such as Sergey Karjakin who became grand master in two thousand and two at the age of twelve. This clearly shows how computers speed up the learning

process.

In the end, Clive Thompson has a strong belief that technology is a positive tool for our minds, it can greatly increase our mental cognition and that using computers are progressing applications and human life. A popular product of technology today is the internet, from blogs to websites full of information there is an endless amount learning and advancement. So finally weather its driving stick or taking an online class technology greatly improves our mental cognition.