Plastic (Post 9)

"The brain is not the machine we once thought it to be" (Carr 29).

This quote begins one of the passages in which Carr describes the plasticity of the brain--it's ability to change over time and adapt to different circumstances. Although this chapter was super heavy on sort of complex psychology, I thought that Carr made his argument very well. Representing to us readers the workings of the brain and how easily it can be changed is definitely a necessary part of his overall argument for the book. It sets a stage for the following chapters when he describes (in so much detail) the evolution of our technology up until the internet, and how the brains of humans have changed to adapt to all of them. For me, this put into perspective the fact that our brains are changing without us really noticing. When I think about it, I notice that I have shorter attention span when it comes to reading long articles or books--most likely due to the internet. But it isn't something I would realize without thinking about the context of my own life and of this time in our technological evolution. Kind of haunting.