Module 4: "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

It's making us shallow.

And deep thinking, brain scientists have discovered, happens only when our minds are calm and attentive.

The Net bombards us with messages and other bits of data, and every one of those interruptions breaks our train of thought.

The faster we zip across the Web, clicking links and skimming words and pictures, the more ads Google is able to show us and the more money it makes.

So even as Google is giving us all that useful information, it's also encouraging us to think superficially.

Any new information technology has both advocates and critics.

The Internet contains the world's best writing, images, and ideas; Google lets us find the relevant pieces instantly.

I could hunt through those or turn to Google, which returns 45,000 pages, including a definitive encyclopedia article and instructions for building a unit.

Internet users are more likely to be exposed to a diversity of ideas.

When the history of our current age is written, it will say that Google has made us smarter—both individually and collectively—because we have ready and free access to information.