Translation from original post:

We adapt seamlessly to the opportunities that the Internet offers us. We do this so well that we hardly realize that we humans are changing. We are placing our memory outside the brain in a large-scale way (“exomemory”). Who still remembers phone numbers? How fast did you learn to trust GPS-navigation without much of a clue as to how one city geographically is positioned to another. Examples abound …

The next step is that we place thought itself outside of our brains. (“exothought”).

A handsome, very readable, interview with Mr. Google’s Search, Amit Singha about the future of search:
Google and the future of search: Amit Singhal and the Knowledge Graph | Technology | The Observer.

Search is to become context sensitive and to be used totally frictionless so that the user himself will think less and less. Singhal see this actually happening: Google is better at predicting what the user really is asking regardless of how sloppy the user is in asking his question:

The more accurate the machine gets, the lazier the questions become. So actually our lives

[at Google, JWM] get harder.

UPDATE 28/03/13

Google wants to be an extension of your mind. Glass, though accompanied by skepticism and fear, is a gateway for Google to achieve that goal.

via Google Glass and the third half of your brain | Internet & Media – CNET News.

UPDATE 04/06/13

Interesting read on the development of IQ, or rather the adaptability of our brains to changing environment.

Claude Fisher in Salon: Are humans getting smarter?

The emerging understanding of intelligence, even as biologically rooted, suggests that it can be boosted beyond its starting point. We may not be able to shape the brain at conception or birth, but we can shape the physical brain and its operations in life.

 

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Original Post in Dutch

Google Graph: de aard van de mens zelf verandert

We passen ons naadloos aan aan de mogelijkheden die het internet ons biedt. Dat doen we zo goed dat we amper door hebben dat we veranderen. We zijn op een grootschalige manier ons geheugen buiten ons brein aan het plaatsen (“exomemory”). Wie onthoudt er nog telefoonnummers? Hoe snel leer je te vertrouwen op routeplanners zonder zelf nog een idee te hebben hoe de ene stad zich verhoud tot de andere? Voorbeelden te over…

De volgende stap is dat we ook het denken zelf buiten ons brein gaan plaatsten (“exothought”). Een knap, zeer lezenswaardig, artikel over de toekomst van search is:

Google and the future of search: Amit Singhal and the Knowledge Graph | Technology | The Observer. Het betreft een interview met Google’s Mr Search, Amit Singhal.

Search wordt context gevoelig en zo frictionless dat de gebruiker steeds minder zelf zal gaan denken. Singhal ziet dit eigenlijk al gebeuren: hoe beter Google wordt in het voorspellen wat de gebruiker echt vraagt hoe slordiger wordt deze in het stellen van zijn vraag:

The more accurate the machine gets, the lazier the questions become. So actually our lives [at Google, JWM] get harder.