Technology, the fourth "R"

I strongly believe that technology is doing a great deal to revolutionize writing, knowledge, and power, and will essentially lead us through a new, artificially induced period of natural selection. Just look at academia as a single significant example of technology's impact on society. When we were in kindergarten, computers were just making their way into the classrooms, and students may get computer time once or twice a week. It was a nice addition, but didn't change much. Now, if a child isn't fluently using a computer to type papers, take tests, and interact with the learning material, we believe their school is underprivileged or behind the times. The very nature of learning changes when you bring the internet into the equation. Today, the average person has millions upon millions of sources of information available to them through the internet. It puts that magical public library of yesterday to shame, and now educators must put more emphasis on how to filter this information, parse it and understand what's valid and what isn't, and less emphasis on simply being able to memorize what you read. We are approaching an era where it really becomes possible to know--or at least access--virtually everything there is to know, and we must adapt our traditional notions of education. Memorizing facts that are relevant to a subject, i.e. historical figures, scientific laws, mathematical formulas, etc takes a back seat to skills and strategies of meta-analysis and critical thinking necessary to functioning in a world where information, accurate or inaccurate, is freely available. I think that this will create a sort of natural selection process within our society. There will come a time when a doctor can easily find the diagnosis for a mysterious ailment simply by typing symptom information into an iPhone app and analyzing the output the program gives him. There will come a time when this is not only faster and more efficient than relying on human memory or sifting through textbooks, it is a more valued skill by far within this and other fields. Individuals who are afraid of technology, or who are reluctant to give up old ways and learn these new skills will ultimately be left in the dust in school, on the job, ad in may aspects of daily life (i.e. reading the news, watching TV, finding a recipe, reading the phone book, getting directions, etc.). It's time to move forward and embrace technology.