1. Chapter 6: Is Surowiecki's statement: "The crowd's judgment was essentially perfect" consistent with your personal experience? Give at least one example to back up your answer.
2. Chapter 6: What specific problem should we apply collective thinking towards? Describe how you would frame the question(s) and how you would build a knowledge base.
3. Chapter 7: As a student, what is your opinion of the "flipped" classroom?Information that is traditionally dispensed by a lecture is distributed via the internet. Class time is reserved for student-initiated questions and discussion. Give at least two points.
4. Chapter 7: "These days, a huge debate rages in the United States about how schools ought to modernize." What should high schools do to modernize, in your opinion? Give at least 3 points.
5. Chapter 9: What are three examples that modern communication technology did to help create "a more just and humane world" (Dominican motto) according to Thompson?
6. Chapter 9: What are three ways that information is regulated and/or controlled on the internet right now?
1- In the prolog, Carr says: "Our focus on a medium's content can blind us to these deep effects. We're too busy being dazzled or disturbed by the programming to notice what's going on inside our heads. In the end, we come to pretend that the technology itself doesn't matter. It's how we use it that matters, we tell ourselves. The implication, comforting in its hubris, is that we're in control. The technology is just a tool, inert until we pick it up and inert again once we set it aside." Agree or disagree? Explain.
2- In chapter 2, Carr says: "The conception of the adult brain as an unchanging physical apparatus grew out of, and was buttressed by, an Industrial Age metaphor that represented the brain as a mechanical contraption." Give reason why you agree or disagree that a brain is simply a "thinking machine."
3- Carr gives an example of how technology changed our concept of time in Chapter 3. How has technology such as facebook, texting, and email changed our concept of friendship?
4- Chapter 4 describes the impact that the printing press had on thinking, reading, and society in general. Describe the impact that the internet has had on thinking, reading, and society in general.
5- How is your focus as you read The Shallows? Can you focus on the text or does your mind wander? What things do you do to help yourself concentrate on a text?
6- Do you memorize things easily? What role does memory play in doing well in school? Do you take courses that require a lot of memorization?
7- Our brains' tendency to "simplify" information may play an important part of what we experience as stereotyping, racism, and other discriminatory "isms." The term "implicit bias" has been proposed for this psychological phenomenon.
For example, the brain has to decide which information about a person is most significant - gender, age, skin color, hair color, certain items of clothing, tone of voice, manner of speaking (accent),facial expression, height, weight. Do you agree? What can be done to change our patterns of thinking?
8- How effective is the internet as a platform for social change? What have been your experiences and/or what are your opinions about this? Give specific examples please.
9- The internet is a vast playground. In chapter 6, Thompsons describes how play can be directed towards solving real-world problems. Suggest other examples besides those that Thompson describes.
10- Is public writing a good replacement for academic writing? Should students write for each other instead of the teacher? Should all student assignments be "published" online?
11- What social activism have you been (or would like to be) involved in through the modern media? What examples could you contribute to Thompson's "The Connected Society" chapter?
12- How free and open should the internet and social media be? What should be done to regulate the internet and social media considering (for example) the incidents of cyber bullying, pornography, racism, identity theft, scams, and internet hoaxes?
One-page topic about organic food.
Thesis statement, organic food is worth more money than conventional food, so people get benefit from eating organic food because it is planted in good soil, it is healthy, and it increases the economy.