A Thing Like Me

It was mentioned in class today that when Nicholas Carr argues a point, he often does it in a sneaky way so that the reader doesn’t realize it’s only his opinion. A Thing Like Me is probably one of the most important chapters in this book as far as Carr getting his point across that computers are taking over our lives. His not so subtle argument that people are becoming too dependent on technology is explained through “ELIZA”, a computer application program that  “offered a ‘mechanic clarity,’ replacing language’s human ‘messiness’ with a ‘clean internal computer’” (202). This software was used in helping to treat mental illnesses: patients could talk to a machine instead of a psychotherapist. The results of this experiment showed that if the patient couldn’t tell whether he or she was talking to a computer, the computer is just as valuable as a therapist. Carr uses this example to prove that people can be easily replaced by technology—“[The three psychiatrists] went on to argue, in circular fashion, that a psychotherapist was in essence a kind of computer: ‘A human therapist can be viewed as an information processor and decision maker with a set of decision rules which are closely linked to short-range and long-range goals.’ In simulating a human being, however clumsily, ELIZA encouraged human beings to think of themselves as simulations of computers” (206). It’s a one way argument. Carr doesn’t give the positive effects of the experiment. And, obviously, it’s his book and he’s trying to make a point, but his arguments that people are being replaced by technology aren’t too sneaky.

Nicole Dowling