Double Entry Journal #8

Read Chapter 2: Digital Wisdom and Homo Sapiens Digital 1. What was the term "Digital Native" meant to be used as? It was intended to be used as a metaphor for describing the differences observed of people at the turn of the 21st century regarding attidudes of younger and older generations regarding technology. 2. According to author what are the characteristics associated with Digital Natives? young people knowing more about digital technology  than their parents or teachers and growing up in a digital country culture, as opposed to coming to it later as an adult 3. Do you consider yourself a Digital Native? Yes, because my parents don't even own a digital camera, computer, and have never been on the Internet. 4. What is Digital Wisdom? According to the text, digital wisdom is a twofold concept, referring to both the wisdom arising from the use of digital technology to access cognitive power beyond our innate capacity and to wisdom in the prudent use of technology to enhance our capabilities. 5. How does the author define "wisdom"? Thomas states that future wisdom-seekers will be able to achieve today's level of wisdom without the cognitive enhancements offered by increasingly sophisicated digital technology, and that their wisdom will be insufficient to navigate a technologically advanced world. 6. How can technology enhance our Wisdom? Give three examples from the chapter? Digital data gathering  and computer-based decision making tools help enhance our judgment by allowing us to gather more data in a timely manner which in turn helps us to perform more complex analyses of information.  Another way that technology enhances our wisdom is the enhancement of our ability to plan and prioritize our lives and daily tasks. 7. What concerns did Socrates have about the technology of writing?  Socrates feared that writing would diminish our memory, but writing has actually made us wiser because we have expanded our collective memory and increased our abilities to share information across time and distance. 8. How can teachers practices Digital Wisdom?  Educators can teach students how to use new technology, guide students, provide quality control and encourage students to use technology safely and wisely.  9. The author states that he is "...opposed to those who claim the unenhanced mind and unaided thinking are somehow superior to the enhanced mind." Are you? Why or why not?  I am also oppossed to that statement, because even hundreds of years ago great scholars enhanced their ability to learn with books.  Their learning and greatness was not gained with just the unenhanced mind, just as today our learning is enhanced with technology. Quote: "Within the lifetimes of our children, more powerful digital mental enhancements -the embedded chips and brain manipulations of science fiction-will become a reality, just as gene manipulation, long considered a far-off dream, is with us now.  Just as we have begun to confront the ethical, moral, and scientific challenges presented by genetic medicine, we will have to confront the issue of digital wisdom sooner or later, and we will be better off doing it sooner.  Many of these enhancements will bring ethical dilemmas, but the digitally wise will distinguish between true ethical issues (is the enhancement safe? is it available equally to all?) and mere preferences and prejudices." Response: This quotation tells us that powerful digital mental enhancements will be the wave of the future.  When I hear this statement, I envision a microchip put in a human's brain that will be like a cell phone connected to the ear.  This microchip will relay messages from emails, phonecalls, missed calls, messages, to-do lists, banking information, and children's grades in school.  The mind could be like a constant computer listening and relaying information constantly.  With just a thought process mentally, we would be able to respond back to these questions or calls almost telepathically because our connections would all interact with each other once programmed to do so.  At first this entire notion seems like a science fiction episode from a futuristic movie or television series, but in all reality in the future it could be made possible just as the author states that gene manipulation was unheard of in the past and is now possible.    (image is cell phone implant)   Thomas, M. (2011). Deconstructing digital natives. New York, NY: Routledge.