In Steven Pinker's article, “The Mind Over Mass Media,” he argues that every advance in media technology has sparked accusations of declining intelligence and morality. Pinker believes that these “moral panics often fail basic reality checks,” pointing out that if technology were as bad as critics make it out to be, it would be impossible for society to reach its current level of progress. Instead, Pinker concludes that "far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only thing that keeps us smart" by helping us exploit vast amounts of information. Pinker's argument contains faulty logic, such as suggesting a questionable correlation between television popularity and rising IQ scores and citing anecdotal evidence about the failure of multitasking rather than facts. In fact, he mentions a study on multitasking, but doesn't cite it, which lends false credibility to his argument. However, some points of Pinker's thesis can be supported despite his rhetoric. Both Adam Gopnik's article, "How the Internet Gets inside Us" and Robert Darnton's "The Library in the New Age" can support Pinker's idea that technological advances are not necessarily harmful. Gopnik argues that "morals have remained mostly static... you could already say 'f**k' on HBO in the 1980s" and the real change is the way new media allows us to share thoughts that one once were “subject to social rules of caution.” This is easily linked to Pinker's idea that outrage over moral decline is not new. Gopnik also theorizes that there are three categories of new media critics: the “Never- Betters”, who believe that technology is leading us to a better world, the “Better-Nevers” who think we would be better off without technology, and the “Ever-Wasers… at the center of the paper… we smart ones” seems flawed to one broader examination. If electronically available data is incomplete and imperfect, as Darnton believes, the quality of the knowledge gained from it must also be subject to scrutiny. Considering the opinions of Gopnik and Darnton, I believe that technology is a resource and can open doors for us intellectually, but it should be treated as a useful tool rather than an absolute authority. Therefore, I disagree with Pinker that technology is the only thing that will keep us smart. Works cited Darnton, Robert. "The Library in the New Age." NYBooks.com. The New York Review of Books, June 12, 2008. Web. March 6, 2012. Gopnik, Adam. "How the Internet gets inside us." NewYorker.com. The New Yorker, February 14, 2011. Web. March 6, 2012. Pinker, Steven. "The mind over the mass media". NYTimes.com. The New York Times, June 10, 2011. Web. March 6 2012.