Reading Log

"Web 2.0 The second generation of the Internet has arrived. It's worse than you think." by Andrew Keen
February 15, 2006

Summary: Keen's article basically shares his point of view how the temptation of using the internet and the new Web 2.0 revolution has consequences on our society that users are unaware of.

Response: After reading a few of Keen's articles it seems like he has a serious vendetta out for the modern internet. Talk about a glass half empty kind of guy. He can present decent arguments about the reliability of sources diminishing, but some of his other claims seem to have illogical reasoning. Keen claims that, "We will lose our memory for things learnt, read, experienced, or heard" without the influence of what he considers credible sources. Just because we read our news off of a computer screen rather than a piece of paper does not make it any less reliable or mind stimulating. On the contrary I believe people are more informed. Never before could you look at the New York Times or Boston Globe within seconds of each other and compare different points of view on similar issues. Since reading the news is now more convenient, people will be more apt to do so. Keen also compares us to Kafka's work stating we are "incapable of thinking deliberately" with the newfound developments of the internet. On the contrary though, since people now have an outlet to express their thoughts, they are more likely to do so and actually generate their own ideas. Just because you can read about someone else's opinions doesn't mean you are incapable of making your own. If Keen is going to claim this then he might as well go as far as saying that anyone who considers another's opinion, whether it be reading their book or listening to a speech, will no longer be able to come up with the own opinions and is a forced into the same beliefs.