Google As Your Backup Brain
from the still-chugging-away dept
Over three years ago, I joked that Google was my backup brain, but for many that's becoming much less of a joke these days. The reliance on Google, combined with always on, wireless connectivity means that remembering certain things (or playing trivia games), just isn't that relevant any more. Even some doctors are found trying to diagnose with the aid of Google. Of course, this plays right into what we were saying a few weeks ago about the importance of figuring out which things to ignore. Letting Google (or other search engines, of course) sweat the little details could mean more efficient use of the brain on bigger, more important things. However, as the article points out, the downside is that this "collective" brain is fed information from all sorts of unreliable sources as well -- and so anyone using it as a tool needs to learn to have a healthy skepticism filter in place.
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doctors
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Re: doctors
i believe we should continue to rely on a good ol' fashion education.
google should be left to everyone else.
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Re: doctors
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Re: doctors
No this is what scares me 60% by a national survey done two months ago of doctor's know how to use the internet. After 20 years of going undiagnosed which is still undiagnosed by a doctor. I have found on-line the one and only place to find the answers to what is wrong with me.
With sites like Diagnose Me and the scholar version of Google. There is so much information out there you can find your answers. I trust my health to myself who can figure out how to use a computer way more than any of the 60% of Doctor's in this country who don't know how to use a computer and 80% in my state acording the the League they designed to bring more technology for Indiana doctor's.
To see our nation coming out with statistics like 40% of Doctor's nationwide have a working knowledge of a computer, it bothers me a lot. I've been paying thousands and thousands of dollars over my life having tests done trying to figure out what was wrong with me. It took me one time of falling down from my, what I knew were seizures, but the Doctor's can't say that without conclusive proof so who knows. Currently it's considered startle syndrome by my doctor however if you did chromosome work on my I guarantee that I have a much more serious form of Myoclonus.
I spend 3 hrs driving to see my specialist for her to weigh me and change my doseage. I'm not even allowed to speak in the doctor's office and my symptoms have matched perfectly with other people who have a completely different disease than the one I've been diagnosed with. Amazingly enough it just so happens to be the one I found on-line. JME
Some good sites for health information are:
E-medicine
National Library of Medicine
There are other very helpful sources like Google, the reason I now am being healed after 20 years of Doctors refusing to help me or telling me it was all in my head.
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Re: doctors
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o rly?
Good day to you, fine sir.
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Re: doctors
Andrew Strasser
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brain
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Collective vs individual
Like with Wikipedia. I'm happier to have some knowledge even if slightly inaccurate about nearly everything, than have however much knowledge I can buy, and be only slightly more sure of it.
The collective brain will also improve its means of acquiring accuracy of information (especially if aided by targeted development of such technologies, which we can see happening).
I don't know about you, but I fancy my chances more in a pub quiz with Google, than five years ago, when I'd never used it. I doubt that will change in 50 years. In fact I dare say I'd do better now, without using Google because of Google.
But are we comfortable to have the collective brain more knowledgeable than the individual? Individually, no. But you won't make the decision. We will...
:s
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Re: doctors
a) You may want to review your 8th grade grammar lessons on the apostrophe. (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html)
b) You provide rather little information about the medications that you were prescribed, but it sounds like you are interested in shared decision making .. which is certainly augmented by google and other search engines. I am concerned that you think that we physicians are useless. Is this just your anger speaking? Or do you really believe that 7+ years of training provides us with so few tools that we're really just a path to a prescription!
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False Information
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No Subject Given
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Funny...
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so true
The funny thing is that I was looking at the same pages that she was just hours before my appointment. I had googled the same thing that she did.
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Re: Funny...
This is the reason most searches on google will get you the correct answer with the "I'm feeling lucky" button.
The beauty behind this is that the more EVERYONE learns through google and pagerank, the more informed the "less intelligent" people become. As more people become more intelligent, the more accurate pagerank becomes because we learn to ignore and weed out the false information. And the slower learners become the minority on Google. So once an answer is agreed on by the masses of increasingly intelligent people, the false pages are put at the bottom of Google's search list and become irrelevant.
Google really is just keeping everyone on the same page. And the longer it works its magic, the more accurate it becomes.
So basically Google just becomes smarter and smarter because it is slowly making the people who use it smarter and smarter.
The longer Google is around, the smarter it will become. And the smarter WE will become.
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More on Wikipedia
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No Subject Given
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Re: Re: doctors
Please try using a comma.
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