Palisades Tahoe Institute (SVI) presents Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows – What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, with a thought-provoking presentation, Thursday, January 15th at Resort at Squaw Creek. Carr's book and presentation examine the economic and social consequences of the rise of Internet-based "cloud computing."

Carr's 2010 book, The Shallows – What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, convincingly shows how newly introduced technologies change the way people think, act and live. The book focuses on the detrimental influence of the Internet—although it does recognize its beneficial aspects—by investigating how hypertext has contributed to the fragmentation of knowledge. One of Carr's major points is that the change caused by the Internet involves the physical restructuring of the human brain, which he explains using the neuroscientific notion of "neuroplasticity."  

The Atlantic published Carr's article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" as the cover story of its 2008 'annual Ideas' issue. Highly critical of the Internet's effect on cognition, Carr's main argument is that the Internet may have detrimental effects on cognition that diminish the capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Carr’s most serious charge against the Internet has nothing to do with Google. Instead, he’s concerned by the way computers are destroying our powers of concentration. Yet even as Carr bemoans his vanishing attention span, he’s careful to note the usefulness of the Internet, which provides us with access to a near infinitude of information.

A Pulitzer Prize nominee, and author of The Glass Cage (released in Sept., 2014), Carr's books appear on the New York Times Bestseller List.
 
The presentation will take place on Thursday, January 15, at 6:30 p.m. in the Alpine Ballroom at Resort at Squaw Creek.  Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with a no-host bar reception. Tickets are $15 for Adults and $10 for students.  Children under ten years old are admitted free.  All SVI members are always admitted free. 

For tickets and more information about the Palisades Tahoe Institute, visit www.squawvalleyinstitute.org.