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.

  1. Central authority is not a hot ticket.
  2. More information produces more uncertainty.
  3. 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:

  1. Online information fosters surveillance ecosystems
  2. Online information erodes traditional structures; that is, the authority thing, the certainty thing, and the wobbling thing
  3. Online information evolves into monopolies; for example, Google in search and other FAANG centroids
  4. Online information requires deleting “old”, “historical,” and fungible data and information
  5. Online information is manipulable; that is, the deep fake capability is the norm
  6. 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

Comments

One Response to “Younger Person Explains the Information Age”

  1. 360DigiTMG on January 13th, 2021 8:16 am

    Nice article. I liked very much. All the information given by you are really helpful for my research. keep on posting your views.
    data science course in delhi

  • Archives

  • Recent Posts

  • Meta