This weekend I read two articles that made me contemplate this question (link1, 2). While the articles deal with the broader notion of technology, I was thinking of the Internet-based versions. Blogs, short articles and relevant search results influence what we think and write. With our basic instincts to conform, are opinions converging very quickly? Do we have few influencers dominating the discussions? Although there are millions of blogs out there, a few emerge as hubs emerge and dominante our attention.

Now to the question of augmenting human intellect... With the glut of readily accessible information from Google that organizes the world's information and makes it universally accessible and useful, do we engage in any second order thinking? In other words, do we treat the Internet as a source of information and use our own neurons to draw conclusions and insights? Given our busy lives, a quick Google search should provide answers to these questions :-)