1. in his article, it doesn’t matter, carr suggests the following: “when a resource becomes essential to competition but inconsequential to strategy, the risks it creates become more important than the advantages it provides.” with respect to Facebook, please discuss whether facebook currently possesses a competitive advantage (in your opinion, why or why not) and if so, whether you believe facebook as a company can sustain this advantage (why or why not).

2. in his article, it doesn’t matter, carr discusses the concept of commodization and even provides some examples of how long it took for different inventions to hit a critical mass in the market. watch the following movie did you know? that also hit on this point (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8w1wuxgnie). what do you believe will be the next thing to take off such as facebook did (not too long ago) that will transform our lives yet again?

3. in his article, it doesn’t matter, carr provides a list of new rules for it management. please discuss the applicability of these rules to companies like google or amazon.

4. in the epilogue for the book the shallows & in is google making us stupid, nicholas carr refers to kubrick’s dark prophecy – “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.” discuss what you understand under this to mean and provide an example that would support this assertion.
5. in the afterword for the book the shallows, nicholas carr talks about the new applications and programs that are coming to the market that are designed to allow people to “follow a train of thought without interruption.” do you believe such applications are necessary in today’s interconnected world? do you have any personal or work experience with such programs?

6. nicholas carr appeared in the colbert report and discussed his book the big switch. what is your personal take on what was discussed in the segment? do you believe we are changing as suggested? some of the same ideas are also discussed in his article is google making us stupid in more detail.