PWR 2 (Response Article)

In the article Does PowerPoint make us stupid?, the question is raised as to whether or not, the medium of PowerPoint is dumbing down our culture. The article begins with the account of David Byrne a famous vocalist, composer and photographer who is said to have turned the use of PowerPoint into an art form. Byrne compiled and published a book in which he argues that PowerPoint has brought the end of reason. This book has stirred a serious debate with regard to the use and value of PowerPoint. Visual Artists seem to believe that PowerPoint serves as a "dumbing" function serving only capture and lull people into believing anything that's put on display. Their claim is that ideas are lost to pointlessness through the use of gratuitous use of PowerPoint. It seems that most of the arguments made in the article are of the sort that associate the use of PowerPoint to the use of a gun. Just like it is not the gun that kills, it is the person that is using the gun that kills, the same goes for PowerPoint. The responsibility of the presentation is on behalf of the user; PowerPoint in and of itself is simply a medium of communication that allows the user to present his or her ideas in a way that best suits what they hope to communicate. My personal take on it is that PowerPoint can be useful if used appropriately; to put it quite simply, the responsibility lies soley on the user.