I- Does deep reading come naturally? How?
II- How do you expect one to read and research like years ago while the pace of life has changed a lot?
III- How is it possible to make a machine more intelligent than humans?
I want to start with a quote from
Benjamin Franklin. He says in his linguistics book, " tell me and I will
forget. Teach me and I will remember. Involve me and I will learn." i agree with what he said but it needs to be adjusted to our life style now.
The writer believes that the deep
reading comes naturally. But I think reading is an skill that should be
learned. In our modern life that people are running to be able to be done with
all their tasks by the end of the day, how can we expect the old way of getting
information? It is not the time to spend hours in libraries to find books, read
them all to find a topic of interest. We should avoid spending time on finding
the information we need while someone else has already spent it. I think speed
in getting the information is different from processing and keeping the gathered
information stored in mind. Our mind is like an empty room. We can order what
we need to arrive by an ordinary or express mail; but when we have the things
ordered, we need to put them in the right place. So the data can be reached
anytime they are needed in a short time. I agree with what Benjamin Franklin
says about learning completely. But I think we need to update it to present. We
need to involve our brain and learn how to process and store the data in the
right place. Neuron connections are like a network; the more ties and more
treads, the stronger the network. When a new data inters our brain, it should
be processed and related to some old connections of data. This is what we need
to learn these days instead of spending time on getting the information.
Our brain is like a computer. There is
input, processor and output. By using the search engines and internet, we have
shortened the time to spend on getting the input. But the main part is the
processing and putting the output in the right place. Does not matter how fast
we get the information. What matters is connecting the data with as many old
data as possible and make it meaningful. So the involving part of Benjamin
Franklin’s quote should be done in this part of the process.
I very much agree with your points. I too believe that deep reading is not a natural thing, it is acquired like any other skill. After reading what you said about taking information we've learned and making connections with our current knowledge, it almost seems like common sense that we should behave this way. Yet I don't believe the average person learns in this manner because our education system promotes a "memorize and forget" learning style where students cram in loads of information for a test and then never think about it again. This is not the way we should be learning and I think you are very right about that!
ReplyDeleteI agree completely, but particularly with what you said about internet technology merely shortening the input in the natural process of our brain consuming information, while the rest of the process remains unchanged. I agree, that's the part that we are responsible for, not our medium.
ReplyDeleteI also especially loved the quote from Benjamin Franklin, which I've heard many times throughout my life, but did not think to apply to this article. It is very relevant!
I really liked that you brought up that we need to learn how to deep read, today it is something a lot of us take for granted. I also loved that you brought up how neuron connections are like a network, they are a perfect example each one sends information to the other which takes care of a certain task in our body and if there is a disconnect we wont function properly. we need to exercise our brains more by deep reading and spend some time making new connections.
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