Has the internet actually helped make Original Critical Thought an endangered species.

No, with a person who has a functioning intellect it stimulates original thought. It allows fast research, enables a person to determine if something really is original far more easily than in paper record days. A person can conceive an idea, research it, find new directions, back away from dead ends. The internet was designed to allow collaboration and reduce the duplication of thought, concept ideas etc.

No, with a person who has a functioning intellect it stimulates original thought. It allows fast research, enables a person to determine if something really is original far more easily than in paper record days.

LOL @grumpyfish
@DarkScribe
Perhaps that is what is robbing the internet user of critical original thought…ease of access to the thoughts of others…

@davidbetterman ease of access to the thoughts of others…

Only if you don’t find the thoughts of others to be stimulating. Brainstorming sessions are a recognised technique in developing concepts and ideas. What is the difference? Plus, in most cases you won’t see the thoughts of others unless you are doing similar research – based presumably on your own original thought.

Not among critical thinkers; for example: Is massively collaborative mathematics possible?.

I would say no, but the yes answer to the question is not without merit.

Internet means much easier, faster access to much more information, but educators for long already have reservations on its effect on development of independent and orginal thinking.

Example: a student is asked by the teacher to write an essay on a certain topic. Now one student could roam the internet and copy or merely summarize others, another student would surf the net too, but try his best to avoid repeating what others have said.

So the issue is really at each individual. But overall, I think the internet does do more good to stimulate critical thinking than impeding it.

I see a lot of group thinking on the internet by people forming collective human gestalts. It seems to have a parallelizing effect on information systems and memes. And how about the fact that conceptualization and original thinking have taken off at a geometric rate every time a new technology enabling greater interpersonal communication surfaces and is adopted? People work better as a collective.