blog #2

Once upon a time we believed that our eyes and brains processed moving images the same way they are shown to us by a camera. This was proven false, just as the argument that the algorithms new digital technology and databases utilize reflect our brain functions. The question this debate raised for me was which is more sophisticated, my brain or the digital machine?
Naturally these algorithms are far more efficient and can process/access more information at a given time than I can. However, if my brain has the capacity to internalize the differing structures in my vicinity and it was the human brain that created these systems, I would argue that it is the human brain, and not the digital database that is more sophisticated.
Humans make decisions in a much more complex way incorporating emotions and third dimensions that the discrete on-off switches of binary code cannot begin to process. While the end result may be the same, there is no direct path obviously discernable by my consciousness when I make a given decision, as there would be in an algorithmic equation. Real thought can be analyzed and confined into an algorithmic summary however real thought is a much more layered and complex process influenced by new data and variables outside of the realm of the discrete.
We have learned to understand these computerized algorithms because they are logical and we can utilize them efficiently however that is not the way we perceive the universe. No we cannot distinguish between the given pixels in a digital picture like a computer can. However, my mother, a 63-year-old woman who witnessed the birth of the digital age, is able to manipulate the tools around her to multi-task, doing multiple searches, playing many games and emailing simultaneously. As this system developed around her, her brain adapted to it and learned to manipulate it making her the more sophisticated creature.
Our brains are malleable and learn new ways to process information based on the systems that surround us. Because of the nature of the internet I believe that we have learned to focus on more things at a time. Yes my mother is an impressive specimen when plugged into the developing digital culture, however, when compared to myself, a 22-year-old who has always known the presence of this digital dialogue, she is still far behind. While we may not be wholly entrenched in any given task, we are able watch TV while having four browser tabs open ranging from facebook to email to a google search to gmail chat. Because this is the digital layered system we use every day, I absolutely agree that we create a non-linear narrative out of the media surrounding us.
The perfect example of this is the way in which the student of the digital age writes their research paper. As they gather their information they carefully construct paragraphs, even whole sections of their work based on the information they are accessing. After reading many articles and writing many sections we cut, paste and rearrange these tidbits into a linear narrative when the process increating them was anything but linear.