The “Shallows” Chapter 3 Tools of the Mind talk about the history of technology, how society has decided on which tools to use and prioritize the development of those tools throughout the years had help changed society. Society had the choice of using a tool and determined which tools were more important over the other, when developing the tools. Society had value importance over developing their devices to measure time, military power, medicine, diseases and other tools. Society has used these tools throughout their daily lives and it has become an essential tool in making life easier. The tools are used as a part of the users own body and is needed to further develop in society.

At first I didn’t really understand the point of the of the chapter because of the way he started the chapter. His analogy on a child’s artwork led me to believe it was about the development of our mind and our perception of art & the detail we included in that artwork. As it went on things changed to his detail in cartography which led into his initial ideas but also began to confuse me. His inclusion of research from centuries ago and credible researchers shows that his material would be credible as well as very informative and detailed. As he went on to compare the ideas behind map making and its unintended consequences he also brought up the development of a more precise method of telling time. This shifted my previous understanding of the “point” of the chapter because now we were talking about technology and its indirect influences.

In the end i did always find myself asking what the general purpose of the chapter was…

I found that chapter 3 of The Shallows had what I would say is 2 arcs to it. The first spoke on how the clock and map had not only transformed how humans lived their lives, but also had an impact on our psychological being as well. The use of these technologies and others had actually changed how our brains worked and functioned and allowed us to focus on complex ideas and theories as opposed to just wondering about our immediate surroundings and activity. The discussion on whether we were in control of technological advancements or if in fact, they were actually just using us humans as almost a vessel, was extremely interesting to me. When first stated, it seemed like a weird almost impossible thought process, but through quotes and further explanation actually began to seem like a plausible theory.

The second part of this chapter dealt with with language and writing and reading’s effect on the world as a whole. Language is explained as a natural occurrence in humans and requires nothing from the outside world to develop. Reading and writing however need to be taught and practiced to become proficient at. The interesting part about this is that different languages and how they are written actually effect different parts of the brain. English and Chinese may be used for the same purpose, to communicate, but their actual use lights up different parts of the brain due to difference in processing phonetic alphabet and symbol based ones. The most intriguing part here was that writing may actually cause forgetfulness.

In chapter 3 of the Book, The Shallows, it spoke about how different things that was created in the past has affected us in today’s times. It spoke about how maps created in the past has a impact on how we use it nowadays along with technology. In the past, maps were created to by scratching in the dirt with a stick to indicate locations of a certain area but today everything has mature in a way where we can locate things with simple tools such as technology. There will no longer need to be times where we need to hand draw the locations. The chapter also spoke about “time.” The author was referring time to how clocks were created and what really defined “time.” Time, played a big role in the past for everyone and people in the present as well. This chapter basically just wanted to point out one idea and it is that technology has changed everything that was invented in the past and how technology today affects every human being on this planet.