Can it be true? Do all Simpsons go through a process of
dumbening? Wait, that’s not how you spell dumbening… waaait, dumbening
isn’t even a word! – Lisa

I can only imagine what the era of Total Recall is doing in High School. Who needs to know all the countries in Africa when the information is at your fingertips?

When it comes to international relations, I think Americans could miss out as one of the (mostly) untouched provinces of intellectualism – foreign language – takes on even more importance as a social handshake protocol. You can Wikipedia a reference to “The Prince” or figure out why John McCain cares about Europe’s Georgia more than America’s Georgia using a Smartphone, but it can’t tell you how to speak Spanish.

We live in the age of the poseur, where everyone can be cool and effectively “retcon” their knowledge and experiences while they go outside for a smoke. Will the salon or coffeehouse of the future ask the intellectuals to use a BlackBerry check room? Obviously, I’m presenting the most pessimistic possibilities, but I don’t think I’m too far out of the ballpark. Since I first joined the CrackBerryCult in 2005, I’ve used it to become an “instant expert” a few more times than I’d like to admit. Frankly, it’s too much like cheating to me … cheating at life. Thank God I kept it off in class …

Can it be true? Do all Simpsons go through a process of
dumbening? Wait, that’s not how you spell dumbening… waaait, dumbening
isn’t even a word! – Lisa

I can only imagine what the era of Total Recall is doing in High School. Who needs to know all the countries in Africa when the information is at your fingertips?

When it comes to international relations, I think Americans could miss out as one of the (mostly) untouched provinces of intellectualism – foreign language – takes on even more importance as a social handshake protocol. You can Wikipedia a reference to “The Prince” or figure out why John McCain cares about Europe’s Georgia more than America’s Georgia using a Smartphone, but it can’t tell you how to speak Spanish.

We live in the age of the poseur, where everyone can be cool and effectively “retcon” their knowledge and experiences while they go outside for a smoke. Will the salon or coffeehouse of the future ask the intellectuals to use a BlackBerry check room? Obviously, I’m presenting the most pessimistic possibilities, but I don’t think I’m too far out of the ballpark. Since I first joined the CrackBerryCult in 2005, I’ve used it to become an “instant expert” a few more times than I’d like to admit. Frankly, it’s too much like cheating to me … cheating at life. Thank God I kept it off in class …

Can it be true? Do all Simpsons go through a process of
dumbening? Wait, that’s not how you spell dumbening… waaait, dumbening
isn’t even a word! – Lisa

I can only imagine what the era of Total Recall is doing in High School. Who needs to know all the countries in Africa when the information is at your fingertips?

When it comes to international relations, I think Americans could miss out as one of the (mostly) untouched provinces of intellectualism – foreign language – takes on even more importance as a social handshake protocol. You can Wikipedia a reference to “The Prince” or figure out why John McCain cares about Europe’s Georgia more than America’s Georgia using a Smartphone, but it can’t tell you how to speak Spanish.

We live in the age of the poseur, where everyone can be cool and effectively “retcon” their knowledge and experiences while they go outside for a smoke. Will the salon or coffeehouse of the future ask the intellectuals to use a BlackBerry check room? Obviously, I’m presenting the most pessimistic possibilities, but I don’t think I’m too far out of the ballpark. Since I first joined the CrackBerryCult in 2005, I’ve used it to become an “instant expert” a few more times than I’d like to admit. Frankly, it’s too much like cheating to me … cheating at life. Thank God I kept it off in class …