Is Changing the Way Our Brains Work

 

Human identity, the idea that defines each and every one of us, could be facing an unprecedented crisis. It is a crisis that would threaten long-held notions of who we are, what we do and how we behave. It goes right to the heart – or the head – of us all. This crisis could reshape how we interact with each other, alter what makes us happy, and modify our capacity for reaching our full potential as individuals. And it’s caused by one simple fact: the human brain that most sensitive of organs, is under threat from the modern world.

 

But one vital fact we have learnt is that the brain is not the unchanging organ that we might imagine. It not only goes on developing, changing and, in some tragic cases, eventually deteriorating with age; it is also substantially shaped by what we do to it and by the experience of daily life. At a microcellular level, the infinitely complex networks of nerve cells that make up the constituent parts of the brain actually change in response to certain experiences and stimuli. The surrounding environment has a huge impact both on the way our brains develop and how that brain is transformed into a unique human mind. Of course, there’s nothing new about that: human brains have been changing, adapting and developing in response to outside stimuli for centuries.

The use of technology is increasing day by day, we all depend on technology and we use various technologies to accomplish specific tasks in our lives. Today we have various emerging technologieswhich impact our lives in different ways. Technology is being implemented in almost every section of our lives and business structures. So it is better to stay up-to-date with new emerging technologies and learn how to embrace and use them in your daily life.

 

2. Translate the following words and phrases from English into Russian

Human identity; unprecedented crisis; be vital fact; unchanging organ; eventually; deteriorate with age; substantially shaped; the experience of daily life; surrounding environment.

 

3. Make questions to the following answers

 

Human identity could be facing an unprecedented crisis.

2) We interact with each other.

3) The human brain is under threat from the modern world.

4. Answer the following questions

1) What is the title of the text you are speaking about?

2) What is the main idea of text?

Can modern technologies influence our brains?

 

5. Speak about: What associations do you have connected with modern technologies?

 

 

Do you think modern technology has made life easier and safer? ...

 

Test-paper

 

English: Information Protection

 

Variant 15

 

1. Read and translate the following text

Modern World Alters Our Human Identity

 

The pace of change in the outside environment and in the development of new technologies has increased dramatically. This will affect our brains over the next 100 years in ways we might never have imagined. Our brains are under the influence of an ever- expanding world of new technology: multichannel television, video games, the internet, wireless networks, Bluetooth links - the list goes on and on.

But our modern brains also have to adapt to other 21st century intrusions. Electronic devices and pharmaceutical drugs all have an impact on the micro-cellular structure and complex biochemistry of our brains. And that, in turn, affects our personality, our behaviour and our characteristics. In short, the modern world could well be altering our human identity.

Today’s technology is already producing a marked shift in the way we think and behave, particularly among the young. We mustn’t, however, be too censorious, because what we are talking about is pleasure. For some, pleasure means song; for others, more recently rock ‘n’ roll; and for millions today, endless hours at the computer console.

Now, coinciding with the moment when technology and pharmaceutical companies are finding ever more ways to have a direct influence on the human brain, pleasure is becoming the sole be-all and end-all of many lives, especially among the young.

 

2.  Translate the following words and phrases from English into Russian

Outside environment; have to adapt; alter our human identity; a marked shift; be censorious; coincide with be-all; end-all.

 

3. Make questions to the following answers