December 12, 2017   |   0 comments

Ivelin Sardamov discusses his book Mental Penguins – The Neverending Education Crisis and the False Promise of the Information Age.

(Stream / download audio at bottom of page)

Sardamov draws on key findings in neuroscience to explain decreasing attention spans, a crisis of curiosity, and waning interest in and knowledge of complex social issues in the United States and around the world. Attributing this trend primarily to the effects of information overload, ubiquitous screens, and constant access to the Internet, he argues that chronic over-stimulation generated by the current socio-technological environment fosters addictive tendencies in today’s young people, many of whom will graduate from profit-driven universities both mired in debt and unprepared for life in the outside world.

This worrying and worsening situation also breeds apathy, disengagement, and social dysfunction, and almost certainly contributes to the ongoing decline in written and spoken language, and even basic cognition. All this among an increasingly-narcissistic and entitled populace weaned on celebrity culture, safe spaces, and political correctness. As with many mostly technological problems, the solution is too often seen as the application of yet more technology. If we wish to stop this downturn, however, and ultimately change course, we must be prepared to face some very uncomfortable truths.

Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’
John Foxx And The Maths ‘The Machine’