Younger Person Explains the Information Age
November 30, 2020
Do you pay attention to young people? Some have great ideas; others edge up to an idea and back away; and others just explain the world the way it really is. To test your receptivity to that I call the jejune ethos, navigate to “The Paradox of the Great Information Flood.” Note that the younger person does not go with the “tsunami” metaphor. This is no wave; this is a flood which means, according to Dictionary.com:
A great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged. Any great outpouring or stream.
One minor point: Floods recede, but let’s look at other revelations.
- Central authority is not a hot ticket.
- More information produces more uncertainty.
- Existential wobbling and nihilism-on-the-rise are us.
How do these observations stack up against the reality of online information. I would point out a few modest differences; for example:
- Online information fosters surveillance ecosystems
- Online information erodes traditional structures; that is, the authority thing, the certainty thing, and the wobbling thing
- Online information evolves into monopolies; for example, Google in search and other FAANG centroids
- Online information requires deleting “old”, “historical,” and fungible data and information
- Online information is manipulable; that is, the deep fake capability is the norm
- Online information facilitates blurring the real with the construct; that is, gameification of data and experience.
Net net: The essay addresses observable facets of the information flood. Floods and tsunamis don’t capture what has been in operation since the mid 1970s. Floods go away; waves pass.
Digital information refines permanence. Hello, world. You are neither brave nor new. Thumb typers are justifiably uncertain, wobbly, and suspicious of “authority.”
Stephen E Arnold, November 30, 2020
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Nice article. I liked very much. All the information given by you are really helpful for my research. keep on posting your views.
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