Are We Risking Our Ability to Think?
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How humans transfer knowledge through time might affect our ability to think.
With the advent of the internet, any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our fingertips, what is there left for our brains to do? At a time when we seem to be stripping all value from the idea of knowing things \\u2014 no need for math, no need for map-reading, no need for memorization \\u2014 are we risking our ability to think? Simon Winchester takes a deep dive into learning and the human mind, and forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming.
Shermer and Winchester discuss: how to become a professional writer \\u2022 ChatGPT, GPT-4, and AI \\u2022 knowledge as justified true belief \\u2022 What is truth? \\u2022 Are we living in a post-truth world? \\u2022 education, past and present \\u2022 books and the printing press \\u2022 the history and future of encyclopedias \\u2022 museums: repatriating objects taken during colonialism \\u2022 print and broadcast journalism \\u2022 internet and knowledge.
Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and the Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Perfectionists, The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906, Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World, and Krakatoa, most of which were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. In 2006, Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen. He resides in western Massachusetts. His new book is Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic.
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