“Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas
Carr, author of “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains,” first
posted this question in a celebrated essay published in The Atlantic, he tapped
into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized
one of the most important debates of our time. As we enjoy the Net’s bounties,
are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? Building on the
insights of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr makes a convincing case that
every information technology carries an intellectual ethic – a set of
assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence.
Carr
will give a reading and talk at A-B Tech Ferguson Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Friday,
Sept. 28 with a reception following. The
free public event is presented by Lenoir-Rhyne University Visiting Writing
Series, Lenoir-Rhyne University Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville, and
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. Carr will also appear on the
Lenoir-Rhyne campus in Hickory, N.C. at the P.E. Monroe Auditorium on Thursday,
Sept. 27 at 7p.m.
“The
Shallows” was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction and
a finalist for the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary Award. An international
best-seller, “The Shallows” has been published in 23 different languages. Carr
is also the author of two earlier books, “The Big Switch” (2008) and “Does IT
Matter?” (2004). His books have been translated into more than 20 languages. He
was a columnist for The Guardian and wrote for The Atlantic, The New York Times,
The Wall Street Journal, Wired, The Sunday
Times (London), The New Republic, The
Financial Times, Die Zeit and other periodicals. His essay “Is Google Making Us
Stupid?” has been collected in several anthologies, including “The Best
American Science and Nature Writing 2009,” “The Best Technology Writing 2009,”
and “The Best Spiritual Writing 2010.” He writes a popular blog called “Rough Type” and
has been the writer-in-residence at the University of California, Berkley. He
holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. in English and American
Literature and Language from Harvard University.
To
learn more about the event, visit http://asheville.lr.edu. Additional information on Carr can be found at: www.nicholasgcarr.com
and www.roughtype.com.
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