The question of whether the “the Internet is making us stupid” has been raised countless times. But rarely has it been done so with more insight than in Nicholas Carr’s recent book, What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. Carr gives a fascinating rundown about the history of human communication, and even discusses how people back in the day thought inventions like the printing press were going to be the death knell for human intelligence.

With hindsight, we see that the ability to mass-produce the written word actually helped expand knowledge, encouraged dialogue, allowed for more people to become learned. So who’s to say the dawn of the Internet won’t be viewed in a similar fashion in the year 2582?

What hit home for me, in reading Carr’s book, was the notion that with hypertext, our connection—our attachment to the text—is much more tenuous. We read from snippet to snippet, rarely taking in the whole universe of a thought or idea. As Carr says, we don’t see the forest when we search the web. We don’t see the trees either. Instead, we’re stuck looking at so many twigs and leaves.

And I’m a bit troubled by the tendency for sites to suggest similar content, based on what we’re reading. We’re human and most of us gravitate toward opinions similar to our own (see the popularity of wing extremists such as Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh). For truly critical thinking to occur, we need to see all sides of an issue, be able to weigh each side’s strengths and weaknesses.

All of this reminds me of the brilliant opening moments of a vastly underrated movie from about five years ago, Idiocracy. The narrator explains how, over time, the most brilliant couples put their careers first and many had one or no kids. Meanwhile, the stereotypical hillbillies were busy procreating left and right. Thus, the movie postulates, in 500 years, natural selection will have been upended, resulting in a human race full of dunces. It’s brilliant satire, but some of it hits just a little too close to home—particularly if you’ve watched much reality TV as of late.

For us engineers, what does this mean? Should we worry about today’s engineering students being dumbed down by the Web—not learning how to solve problems creatively but instead Googling for an answer?

Over the past decade, what has your experience been with younger engineers? I’m talking about co-op students and recent college graduates—how are their critical thinking skills? Do they over-rely on the Internet?

And to you, the younger engineers out there—say those with five to 10 years of experience—have you found that Google helps or hinders you in the overall learning process? What has helped you make the transition from being book smart to being wise to the realities of actual design projects?

Is it, as Carr suggests, that the web is simply the latest in a long series of tools that have allowed the human brain to adapt and excel? Does the web allow us to forget information—be it a formula or a fundamental constant—and offload it on to silicon chips? Maybe that frees up space for other pursuits, such as brainstorming or critical thinking or big-picture problem solving.

For sure, the web is a paradox—it has the power to make us brilliant or vacuous. I respect the power of the web. But all the same, I’m leery. For now, I’m not stopping my weekly habit of taking my sons to the library to check out some books.

Join us for a Design World tweet chat on “Engineers and the Internet” on October 19^th from 3-4 p.m. Eastern time. Follow/use the hashtag #designworld on that day.