In my upcoming column on state driver licensing requirements, I note that because driverless cars will demand even less of our brains and our bodies than manual driving does, we are likely to progress as a society but regress as a species.
Today, I learn that the same general topic was taken up recently by Nicholas Carr in an essay in the Wall Street Journal. Carr, the author of “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” and “The Glass Cage: Automation and Us,” warns
Worrisome evidence suggests that our own intelligence is withering as we become more dependent on the artificial variety. Rather than lifting us up, smart software seems to be dumbing us down.
Worth a read.
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2014.
