Is the Internet an extension of human memory?

Yes, it is an extension of memory, but it's not new. Encyclopedias have served that role for centuries. The process is simply quicker now.<p>As it continues to accelerate (perhaps eventually becoming directly integrated into our thought processes via some kind of brain/machine interface), the distinction between "stored in your brain" and "stored in the computer/internet/etc" will become ever more blurred.<p>Perhaps even more excitingly, there's no reason why you should have such a distinction between "computers/networks" and "human brains". Via mechanisms such as Twitter and other instant social messaging, I also have some level of access to the information stored in your brain. Eventually, we might find that the whole setup of billions of brains plugged into each other and into billions of data-rich computers gives birth to some emergent process or another... potentially scary, but fascinating.

I like the way Carl Sagan described how organisms store information in Cosmos. We store all of our vital information in our DNA (i.e. how to metabolize proteins etc). What we couldn't fit in there we stored in our brains, passed on through rearing children, word of mouth and shared culture. That eventually lead to the written word and now the internet. He articulates it a lot better than I do.

For the philosophically inclined: <a href="http://consc.net/papers/extended.html" rel="nofollow">http://consc.net/papers/extended.html</a> (the famous "The Extended Mind" paper from Clark/Chalmers)<p>(And <a href="http://philpapers.org/browse/the-extended-mind" rel="nofollow">http://philpapers.org/browse/the-extended-mind</a> for in-depth information)

And Marshall McLuhan strikes again.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan#The_global_village" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan#The_global_vil...</a>

from the parent:<p><i>My dilemma<p>Now this can be most convenient in some circumstances because I can quickly find huge repositories of quality information.<p>[...] But due to me not really committing information directly to my memory I have less premises to call on when thinking.<p>I feel that my ability to be creative is impaired because all I am turning my memory into is the “Contents Page” of what I know. So instead of a novel, I am a dictionary.</i><p>This is a very interesting thought. But maybe the answer will be, that some day you will have to be online, in order to think.<p>Though, right now, this all sounds very futuristic to me. The access of information over the internet is way slower than over my memory. Not because of bandwith but by how poorly, the searched for information is presented.<p>PS: So what are all those Star Trek Borgs standing in their boxes? Surfing the internet of course!

Always loved the concept of my mind having a direct link to the internet. Instant information and communication with ANYBOY, instantly and effortlessly.

That makes a lot of sense, knowing what (little) we know about how creativity and connectivity work in the brain. Memories interact with each other and with the outside world, and that just doesn't happen when stored externally.<p>I can definitely say I've been feeling the effects of my "hard" knowledge gradually being replaced by pointers and references in the last 15 years. And it's not just that horrible "smartphone dies -&#62; IQ drops X points" effect, but also declining creativity - regardless of my smartphone's battery.<p>So yeah, I agree this is probably a stage in our evolution and will be a non-problem once we upload to the net, but what can we do until then?

Instead of remembering information, we store pointers to that information. We just need to remember the search terms or keywords that will allow us to quickly recall the desired information.<p>But, having knowledge organized this way leads to this: <a href="http://xkcd.com/903/" rel="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/903/</a>

It's all about leverage, we will leverage anything and everything, including memory.

No, it requires manipulation of the real world (typing and waiting), it cannot ever be categorized in the unique way each of our brains work and most of all it's not offline.

And Plato regretted the invention of writing because it atrophies our memory. Same thing, different millennium.

It is an extension of human memory at the sacrifice of attention span.