There is an interesting observation going around these days that says “more information will be created in the year 2009 than in all recorded history up until that year”
Of course this creates a great deal of rubbish that one must sift through in order to find a nugget of something valuable. Figure it out. How many people do you know who you would say are experts on something? How many people do you know who come from a place of experience to truly offer a valuable opinion?
At the center of this information overload is the internet. Admission is cheap and open to just about anyone. There are no qualifications. You don’t even really have to be very literate, and yet you can post your thoughts and opinions on any subject you wish. It doesn’t matter if you have almost no experience or indeed no experience. If you can turn a phrase well or can appropriate a well turned phrase, so much the better.
And this dear reader is the problem.
Places like LinkedIn offer the opportunity for people who answer questions to gain “expert” points, but that would mean that the person asking the question would have to pick your answer as the best or one of the best. The problem is that there is a difference between an appropriate answer and the most popular answer. This type of system is also used to pick the winner of “So You Think You Can Dance”, which through its own admission delivers America’s Favorite dance and not necessarily the best dancer. Given that many questions are raised due to some sort of “ignorance” or lack of knowledge o the part of the person asking, it’s hard to believe that in most cases, this same person would actually know the best answer they received. Answers that may be out of their comfort zone, politics or religion may get the old thumbs down.
This type of system doesn’t foster truth or honesty, especially when people consider that everything they say and do on the internet is available for public scrutiny. Most live in fear of saying or doing something that may hurt them in the future. I’m sorry but you can’t have this apartment because 7 years ago in a chat room you said something bad about Obama or perhaps you follow the “wrong” group in Facebook.
In a way it reminds me of the old Twilight Zone episode starring Billy Mumy. He was a little boy who could will things with his mind. He could make people disappear or turn you into a cartoon or a lamp. And he had a whole bunch of people he held prisoner in this big house. All they could do was say “That’s really good Anthony” “You done real good”. Apparently he could tell if they were thinking bad thoughts about him.
Thus, the problem with our information these days is that we get a lot of it from people who really and truly aren’t qualified to be giving opinions and/or the information is highly tempered by the need for it to be “positive”, inspiring or at the very least make its giver look good.
Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad), says “A lot of people are afraid to tell the truth, to say no. That’s where toughness comes into play. Toughness is not being a bully. It’s having backbone.”
Lots of information out there, and most of it not worth the price of the ram chip it was created with.
It would seem that rather soon, enough B.S. meters will go off and new ways to establish pecking orders, validation and verification will come into play. We currently have a great deal of control over which information we get to see, but soon we will have ever more control. In short my good friends, a system (systems) will come into play that will make sure another Perez Hilton can’t ever occur.
Until then, I would take everything with a grain of salt. Google people, places and things to get a better sense for the information that’s out there and pay careful attention, because these days words are appropriated and mixed up slightly and land on another website or 300 other websites.
It takes a little work and in some cases may require you do some independent thinking, which could give you a headache. You will be better off if you dig deep and don’t take things at face value.
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Enormous amounts of disposable information that doesn’t go away? Hmmm… sounds familiar. Oh yeah, we’ve done the same thing to the planet.
So what are these ‘systems’ you are alluding to, the ones that will establish new pecking orders and verification? Do tell.