Is Depth of Breadth Better

Is depth or breadth in each individual’s understanding more important for the progress and survival of society?

Imagine yourself in a world without specialists. No one to carry out advanced scientific research, no one to treat serious diseases, or simply no one to make top of the notch computer games. This, simply put, is a world without depth, a world which Google has developed, according to Nicholas Carr, the author of the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid”. The very importance of depth in understanding dates all the way back to the formation of early civilizations or societies, when people decided to get together so they could rely on each other’s specialization for progress and survival, instead of trying to understand the numerous aspects of survival on their own. Obviously, we can see that man from the very start realized that depth in understanding was essential for progress and survival.

As Nicholas Carr mentions, deep reading of the written word, which leads to depth in understanding, often comes with deep, critical thinking. It encourages us to think actively and creatively, drawing our own inferences and fostering our own ideas. This is what I strongly agree with. Such deep thinking and understanding allows man to specialize in a specific aspect in society, so he can lead the forefront in the advancement of this aspect, bringing about rapid development in that particular aspect. For example, in the field of scientific research, we would require scientist and researchers who have an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of their field of study, as this would enable them to understand to the fullest extent the elements of their field of study and hence push the boundaries of what is known to make new discoveries. Say a researcher who studies on the delivery of genes into organisms. He would need to understand clearly the biological make-up of these genes and organisms before he can come to the conclusion on the effects of a particular gene on...