0
0
🎂

Information Age: Glass Half Full or Half Empty?


 invite response                
2012 Nov 25, 6:57am   637 views  0 comments

by Tenpoundbass   ➕follow (7)   💰tip   ignore  

I saw this post on a forum I frequently lurk at.
This post summed up my thoughts about pretty well about how we used to get by, vs what is expected at the tip of our fingers today.

At age 65 I am still in awe of the information now available at the click of a mouse or a tap on a smart phone. I can remember in the early 1980's, going to the library as a young man, and hunkering down with microfiche and the card catalog, sorting through dusty stacks of scientific journals, and even putting in requests at the desk for books that were only available at another library branch .... you wanted to find something out, you had to work for it.

These days I am in awe of the "information gap". It is astounding what the average person either doesn't know or has incorrect knowledge about.
Like easy money, I guess easy information has cheapened our human knowledge database.

Moreover, we now seem to have accepted the idea that there are "your" facts vs "my" facts. Facts have been relegated to opinion; you embrace those you agree with and discard those you don't.
Talking points have replaced empirical data.
Fuzzy logic trumps the scientific method.

It's as if the caveman were given the gift of fire but he doesn't know what to do with it.

I remember looking at catalogs as much as three years old, and still able to order the items in it. Today a web page with merchandise as much three months old, could already be discontinued, sold out, or even the company not even in business.

Today it seems a lot easier to be able to find niches on the internet that are dedicated to a past time, event or item. Where you find enthusiasts in forums or blogs, that write about a given topic. You can learn and share ideas, but it's more a past along knowledge. That is very easy to do, and the knowledge you gain, is not worth more than the level of expertise of the author of the content. But the common adage "It is written therefore it must be true", seems to trump "Never believe what you hear, and only half of what you see".

How ever it has never been harder to seek out hard copy reference materials on these topics to learn on your own. Finding books on given interests is getting rare, they either don't reprint them, or there aren't any authors writing new books. Also books were more in depth than you get from blogs, or how to websites. Books don't have people asking questions, and some newb answering them wrong information,(Which you don't realize it is erroneous until you try it your self).

Then the access to information has gotten so great, I find my self propelled to query something, before I stop my self and realize, that isn't on the internet.
like... "When was the last time I had a baloney sandwich"
We really do almost expect every query to have at least one answer on the internet.

The internet in such a short time has become indispensable. I remember researching computers before I ever got one, by news paper inserts, or something like consumer reports magazine. Now all product research is done on the computer. That was just over 18 years ago, and already it seems like it's just the way it always was.
Perhaps future Historians will look at history as Before Christ(BC), After Christ(AD), then After the internet(AI).
Though I realize there would be some great dispute on when that year actually was. It would really be "After Windows 95". That was the OS that catapulted us here. With out it Computers would still be a Nerd's game, and the internet would be something they used, that 98% of the population didn't understand the concept of. SO that would make this the year 17AI.

no comments found

Please register to comment:

api   best comments   contact   latest images   memes   one year ago   random   suggestions