I am a programmer.
Early in my career back in mid-eighties nineties when we were confronted by a problem and needed information, we had no option but seek documentation, read lengthy manuals, and sometimes pay truckloads of cash to ‘consultants’.
When we needed to learn a new programming language or grasp a new technology such as a new API or operating system we had no option but to read thick manuals and sometimes attend courses.
Our brain pretty much operated on its own with input mostly taken from static material. This was after all how our brain was wired through education systems of pre-Internet era.
We were used to the idea that our consciousness is unique and isolated. It seemed the best way our mind’s clockwork could operate was when we were in complete solitude provided that we had every material we need in front of us.
Nowadays I hardly open a book for solving problems. In the past few years I learned three computing languages (out of seven) through Google.
At work every other second my mind reaches out and extends its memory through that little box, Google search.
That little box almost became a cyber-extension of my brain. It seems all I need is a well functioning short-memory from my biological end and whatever my frontal lobe is capable of.
My thought process is no longer driven by a static, hardwired and error-prone organic memory which is subject to birth, physical and age related weakness, but by a more dynamic, accurate, ageless and colossal machinery.
That little box makes me smarter, I make better judgements, I think faster, and I can reliably test my assumptions at a much faster rate. Despite my age my productivity at work increased in several orders of magnitude.
I am no longer Homo Sapiens. I am remade as Cyber Sapiens.
These are exciting times for our generation. We are lucky enough to witness the best of both worlds and we are representing a generation at the dawn of post-Internet human brain evolution.
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