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6 Industrial Management The headline of this column was the proposition put forth at a recent event hosted by Intelligence Squared, a nonpartisan organization that brings experts together to debate stimulating topics. Two prominent authors made the argument that digital technology and the Internet, which seem so empowering, are making us dumber, while two equally qualified opponents maintained that smart technology is making us smarter. This two-part column aims to summarize the arguments of both sides for your consideration. We'll begin with the proposition. Author Nicholas Carr bases his argument on the negative physiological effects of smart technology. He dispels the notion that we only have to open our eyes to the stream of data on the Internet to assimilate knowledge. On the contrary, he argues that the brain's ability to integrate information is quite limited. Incoming data, he explains, is temporarily stored in our working memory, which only can hold a few bits of information at a time before it passes that information along to the much more capacious long-term memory. This process of "memory consolidation" forms the basis of true knowledge – and it cannot be rushed. But the constant bombardment of information from the Internet has created, he believes, "an environment of distraction – almost perpetual inter- ruption" known as cognitive overload. In such an unnatural environment, the working memory is forced to make room for the new data before the previous data has been integrated properly into a meaningful framework of knowledge. Because the format of the Internet demands skimming, Carr argues that we are losing the ability to read deeply and, by implication, to think deeply. This continuous torrent of information only exacerbates the problem by ingraining another bad habit: multitasking, which has been proven to inhibit learning. Carr argues that true understanding has little to do with getting answers on Google; rather, intelligence is revealed by knowing which questions to ask. Instead of developing the capacity of our intel- lects, we are becoming increasingly lazy, dependent on search engines to do our thinking for us – and to do it quickly. If we are not immediately "enlightened," we abandon the quest. Carr's debate partner was entrepreneur and author Andrew Keen. Keen is concerned about how smart technology affects our culture. He believes that social media has created a culture of intimacy in which everything is personalized. Entire generations are growing up under a "pre-Copernican notion" that the world revolves around them, thus the constant updates of what they are doing, where they are going, what they've purchased. This obsession with social media has created, he believes, an "echo chamber culture" in which objectivity has disappeared. He deplores what passes for "knowledge" on the notoriously unreliable Internet. We are losing the ability for sophisticated thought, he says. Rather than having created a sense of community, Keen argues that social media has done just the opposite. The unceasing celebration of the self – epito- mized by the "selfie" photograph – has "atomized" and alienated the individual. Certainly there are studies that seem to support the arguments of Carr and Keen. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, test scores for high school students have not improved over the last 40 years despite the billions invested in classroom technology. The national literacy rate has remained stagnant over the past decade, concluded a survey by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Every year more than a million disaffected students drop out of high school. But there is another side to this argument. Stay tuned for part two: "Smart Technology Is Making Us Smarter." Dan Carrison, a business writer and consultant, has authored or co-authored four management books: Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way, Deadline! How Premier Organizations Win the Race against Time, Business Under Fire and From the Bureau to the Boardroom . Carrison is a general partner of Semper Fi Consulting and founder of www.ghostwritersinthesky.com. He also teaches corporate communication for the University of La Verne. He can be reached at dan.carrison@gmail.com. 21st century management Andrew Keen deplores what passes for "knowledge" on the notoriously unreliable Internet. Smart technology is making us dumber BY DAN CARRISON