The Internet as Cognitive Enhancement.

The Internet has been identified in human enhancement scholarship as a powerful cognitive enhancement technology. It offers instant access to almost any type of information, along with the ability to share that information with others. The aim of this paper is to critically assess the enhancement po...

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Published in:Science & Engineering Ethics Vol. 26; no. 4; pp. 2345 - 2363
Main Authors: Voinea, Cristina, Vică, Constantin, Mihailov, Emilian, Savulescu, Julian
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Aug2020
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        10.1007/s11948-020-00210-8
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        atl: The Internet as Cognitive Enhancement.
      aug:
        au:
          Voinea, Cristina
          Vică, Constantin
          Mihailov, Emilian
          Savulescu, Julian
        affil:
          Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
          Department of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
          Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
          Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
          Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
          Melbourne Law School, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia
      su:
        Internet
        Artificial intelligence
        Access to information
        Misinformation
        Information overload
        Intelligent personal assistants
      sug:
        subj:
          Internet
          Artificial intelligence
          Access to information
          Misinformation
          Information overload
          Intelligent personal assistants
      keyword:
        Cognitive enhancement
        Persuasive design
      ab: The Internet has been identified in human enhancement scholarship as a powerful cognitive enhancement technology. It offers instant access to almost any type of information, along with the ability to share that information with others. The aim of this paper is to critically assess the enhancement potential of the Internet. We argue that unconditional access to information does not lead to cognitive enhancement. The Internet is not a simple, uniform technology, either in its composition, or in its use. We will look into why the Internet as an informational resource currently fails to enhance cognition. We analyze some of the phenomena that emerge from vast, continual fluxes of information–information overload, misinformation and persuasive design—and show how they could negatively impact users' cognition. Methods for mitigating these negative impacts are then advanced: individual empowerment, better collaborative systems for sorting and categorizing information, and the use of artificial intelligence assistants that could guide users through the informational space of today's Internet.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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      custom: Science & Engineering Ethics is a copyright of Springer, 2020. All Rights Reserved.
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      holder: Springer Nature
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