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| | | Despite warnings that social networks reduce critical thinking, social networks have begun to be used effectively within the medical community. Servo is changing the way doctors think and practice medicine. It is a social network open exclusively to doctors. When a doctor comes across a medical condition that the doctor may not recognize, he or she can post a blog question to the medical community. The community of doctors rates the usefulness of the post, can answer multiple choice polls, and can leave individual comments. Through this system, doctors are able to call upon the knowledge and experience of 110,000 (and counting) fellow practitioners. Unknown maladies are quickly diagnosed, and doctors quickly learn the “best” solution to both common and rare medical problems. Asking someone else how to do something may not be “critical thinking,” but it is surely extremely beneficial in the medical field. Servo may produce an environment in which the need for innovation is diminished, but the social utility it creates surely outweighs any negative cognitive impact.
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< | As a former computer programmer who worked on large projects, it seems apparent to me that at least some of what Mayer-Schönberger suggests rings true. More often than not, the truly innovative solutions to a coding dilemma come from the lone programmer, not from teamwork or an environment in which individual programmers know that their ideas will be scrutinized by committee. However, peer produced, open source programming has repeatedly proven to be extremely effective, and for many types of applications it is clearly the best way to develop software. While it may be true that the groupthink mentality, combined with the natural “locked in” nature of the net leads to less radical thinking, does this negative outweigh the positives brought about by social networks (privacy concerns aside)? No—now, people all over the world have the ability to educate themselves on any topic and communicate and learn with the entirety of humanity. | >
> | As a former computer programmer who worked on large projects, it seems apparent to me that at least some of what Mayer-Schönberger suggests rings true. More often than not, the truly innovative solutions to a coding dilemma come from the lone programmer, not from teamwork or an environment in which individual programmers know that their ideas will be scrutinized by committee. However, peer produced, open source programming has repeatedly proven to be extremely effective, and for many types of applications it is clearly the best way to develop software. While it may be true that the groupthink mentality, combined with the natural “locked in” nature of the net leads to less radical thinking, does this negative outweigh the positives brought about by social networks (privacy concerns aside)? No. Now, virtually everyone has the ability to educate themselves on any topic and communicate with the entirety of humanity. | | | | |
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< | The groupthink phenomenon is simply the natural way in which humans function. While there may be some drawbacks to social networks, they are here to stay. We should therefore focus on educating the public of the possible cognitive pitfalls of social networks, and encourage them to work to prevent social network groupthink, and promote critical and radical thinking. | >
> | The groupthink phenomenon is simply the natural way in which humans function, and social networks are here to stay. We should therefore focus on educating the public of the dangers and existence of groupthink within social networks, encourage them to work to broaden their horizons, and use the education system to promote critical and radical thinking beginning at an early age. | | |
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-- HeatherStevenson - 08 Jan 2010 | |
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Brian,
Thanks for your comments. I'm incorporating your suggestion into the final draft.
Heather,
I appreciate your comments. As for Servo, the fact that Servo is used by a professional community does not immunize it from groupthink. In fact, groupthink could adversely affect Servo, in that it might lead the medical community to become more centralized and lead to less critical thinking by individual doctors. For instance, when a doctor comes across a difficult medical dilemma, instead of trying to devise an innovative solution to the problem, he might consult Servo and assume that the Servo's solution to his problem is the best solution available. At that point, he stops thinking critically and goes along with the group. In this scenario, critical thinking and a chance to invent a better solution are lost. However, in my opinion, the value of the information and the service that Servo provides far outweighs any negative impact. Groupthink within Servo is still important, but as I said in my paper, "the social utility it creates surely outweighs any negative cognitive impact."
-- ScottMcKinney - 13 Jan 2010 | | |
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