Chapter 71 The birth of something new is bound to spark controversy

The title of this chapter aims to explain whether the collective IQ of the Japanese is really declining with the development of the Internet and the popularity of mobile phones. "The Internet has a bad influence on the brain" is often said these days.At present, in the content of Japanese conversation, the topic that will inevitably appear is "the harm caused by the Internet." In 1995, I published a book called "Internet Revolution", and it has been more than ten years now. At that time, I made some predictions about the current situation in that book: "For core enterprises and business people, the emergence of the Internet is equivalent to a technological innovation", "For the first time, the birth of the Internet has enabled people from different regions to have common new culture".At that time, people who read the book said to me: "Mr. Omae, the situation you describe in the book will not happen in our lifetime."

However, the Internet has become popular at a faster rate than expected. In 1995, it was regarded as an idiotic dream by operators, but it has become a reality in less than 10 years. Of course, the Internet has also brought some unexpected things to the real world, that is, it has destroyed some people's lives and brought progress to others.Of course, people have a lot of discussion on this issue, one of which is that "the Internet has brought harm". From this, I think that when a new thing is born, it will inevitably cause some controversy, and people will feel some rejection.

For example, when television was born, it sparked the "idiotization" debate; also, with the popularity of video games, it caused children's academic performance to decline, or caused many problem teenagers. However, these criticisms may not have sufficient basis. It is better to think that this phenomenon is because "unknown things quickly enter society", which has caused psychological panic to some people who cannot accept it. In my opinion, it is inaccurate to say that "virtual worlds destroy human life", whether it is the Internet or mobile phones.I think it may be more appropriate to consider it this way: the Internet has provided a lot of convenience to our lives and made great contributions, and its advantages outweigh its disadvantages.

Although there are many people who think that the Internet is harmful, what I want to say to these people is: "Instead of thinking this way, it is better to think from a religious point of view that the human brain has become more and more lazy." Religion is formed on the basis of obeying God's will, that is, what God requires, people must do as required.Simply put, because "people who believe in God can be saved", so as long as everything obeys God, there will be no problems, and the human brain becomes extremely lazy.Because it is frowned upon to ask "why" no matter what one does, religion robs one of the ability to think.

But what about the web?Does it deprive people of their ability to think like religion does? In between, I have sorted out some of the following arguments about "Internet Harm Theory".