Jimmy Wales and Nicholas Carr stood at different podiums, a monitor between them, for Wednesday night's Ubben lecture. But the two agreed, and shared complementing perspectives, more often than they debated.
Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, which is the world's fifth most-popular website and Carr, author of "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains," participated in a debate called "Wired… and Weary." The event marked only the second Ubben Debate in the program's history.
Prior to the event, DePauw students were encouraged to participate in a challenge to disconnect from technology. The stipulations included not using laptops, cellphone or the Internet. When moderator Dan Gurnon, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, asked how many had completed the challenge, just three students raised their hands.
Senior Abbey Wilson found disconnecting unrealistic. Wilson works at the Office of Admission.
"I didn't think it was feasible to be without Internet," she said. "My job of at the Office of Admission has been crazy, so I had a lot of last-minute emailing for that."
The event was set to be a hybrid, consisting of discussion in addition to debate. Both Wales and Carr were given five minutes to make an initial argument before entering in a question and answer session with Gurnon and finally a one-minute rebuttal. Members of the DePauw debate team kept track of time.
"The way it was framed, I thought it was going to be a little more of a debate, but I was fine with the way it was," Wilson said.
Carr opened the debate with how the development of the Internet in people's lives.
"The evolution of technology has taken a different turn in the last five years," he said. "The computer and Internet have come to surround us. As this has happened, it's become a whirlwind."
Carr argued that technology has caused his mind to rebel against paying attention, which has a harmful effect on tasks like critical thinking.
Wales began his argument by admitting that he agrees with Carr's assessment, but that the two differ in terms of their pessimism toward technology.
"I don't think it's a bad thing as he thinks it is, and I don't think it is happening as much he fears that it is," Wales said.
Wales also argued that being able to access information is important.
"Today you can just go and look it up," he said. "That is the basic understanding of things and that is not deep, deep, but it is valuable."
Wilson found herself particularly drawn to Carr's main argument.
"I don't know if it's our brains are constantly changing, but I certainly think my brain is in a different mode [when I'm on the internet]," she said. "It's definitely something we should be critical of and enjoy the benefits of."