The times had an interesting article

in the education section this morning. Unfortunately I can't find it on the site to link.

Basically it was discussing how those who rote-learned were equipped to handle all kinds of changes. After leaving school the clever could creatively blossom while the dull still had a tool kit with which they could at least partially navigate the streams of life. This was contrasted to the current net-info-centric age, where those without a net connection and information streams were generally left gasping on the bank beside the river.

I've noticed this within myself. The more I come to rely on various search engines, websites and blogs to provide stimulation and information, the less able I have become to generate valuable and coherent thought *without them to help me* (and even with them, a bit). Now we all need stimuli and information from which to learn. But there's something, at least in my brain, that gives up the struggle to learn for myself when I can have the data from a few key strokes and then just draw a conclusion.

This probably all sounds a bit extreme, and it *may* be part of the aging process too. But I think that it's real at least for me. I need to read more, reason more, not necessarily use the search tools less, but definitely expand the brain with hard work.

This is one of the things I admire about Fern - that he apparently, for all his connectivity, has kept his mind going. I need to push a little more when I get tired of thinking.