An online survey of 895 web users and experts found more than three-quarters believe the Internet will make people smarter in the next 10 years,according to results released on Friday. Of the 895 people surveyed,371 were considered experts. Most of the respondents also said the Internet would improve reading and writing by 2020,according to the study,conducted by the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University in North Carolina and the Pew Internet and American Life project. Three out of four experts said our use of the Internet enhances and augments human intelligence,and two-thirds said use of the Internet has improved reading,writing and the rendering of knowledge, said study co-author Janna Anderson,director of the Imagining the Internet Center. But 21 per cent said the Internet would have the opposite effect and could even lower the IQs of some who use it a lot. There are still many people . who are critics of the impact of Google,Wikipedia and other online tools, she said. The survey gathered opinions from scientists,business leaders,consultants,writers and technology developers,along with Internet users. It was prompted in part by an August 2008 cover story in the Atlantic Monthly by writer Nicholas Carr headlined: Is Google Making Us Stupid? Carr suggested that use of the Web was chipping away at users capacity for concentration and deep thinking. What the Net does is shift the emphasis of our intelligence away from what might be called a meditative or contemplative intelligence and more toward what might be called a utilitarian intelligence, Carr said. The price of zipping among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking. The survey also found that 42 per cent of experts believed anonymous online activity would be sharply curtailed by 2020,thanks to tighter security and identification systems.
