The flood of information we are daily exposed to is exactly that—a flood that could overwhelm us by its sheer volume, speed and impact. The tremendous amount of information available in the media, particularly on the Internet, on any and every topic, accessible in the shortest possible time, with the greatest of ease, can be a tsunami, sweeping away all power of discernment and judgment so that we end up unwitting receptacles of other people’s thoughts.

There are several aspects of the information quandary, that we would do well to be aware of:

Firstly we, as human beings, are natural ‘informores’, seeking to know the truth about what’s going on in the world around us, with the same hunger that our ancestors had sought meat. A hungry eagerness makes for gullibility, and gullibility is reinforced by a habitual trust of the printed word, possibly a hearkening back to a time when books were still a repository of human wisdom, eliciting feelings of respect, regard and even awe. Such is the power of print that while we have learnt to be skeptical of the information contained in unabashedly promotional advertisements, and to even dismiss outright the claims of sensationalist tabloids, we generally accord respect to mainstream newspapers and magazines, journals and textbooks, and accept what they tell us. There have been serious cases of misinformation in even highly respected newspapers and magazines—and non-print media as well—but we continue to look to them as reliable sources of information.

Secondly, even in cases of doubt, as when we suspect the information to have been coloured by the subjective views of the dispenser, we just do not have the time to do our own independent research, and hence have no choice but to continue to depend on the traditional sources. Unless there is a strong reason for checking on the veracity of a source, such as in academic research, we simply assume that the journalists, the columnists, the news readers, the TV programme producers, the book authors are all doing their job and carrying out their responsibility of conveying accurate, truthful information.

Thirdly, even if all the information is correct and true, how much of it is merely redundant, or irrelevant or downright trivial? For instance, how much of it is just titillating stuff about the private lives of the rich and famous, that should remain private? Such information is actually the *lowest *order of knowledge and hence does not merit our attention and respect.

And lastly, even if it is high-order knowledge we are receiving, is it the kind that leads to true values, or the false kind that only blinds us to these? For instance, how do we deal with the amazing amount of scientific knowledge now available to us, revealing not only Nature’s secret codes about our biology, but also showing how to break these codes and exploit them for our purposes? Could this kind of knowledge lead us into the dangerous Faustian compact of false power?

It is well, as we speed along the Information Highway, to remember T. S. Eliot’s warning, made with impassioned rhetoric:

‘Where is the knowledge that is lost in the information? Where is the wisdom that is lost in the knowledge?’

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About Vignettes...

A continuing flow of little, readable pieces that will constitute what I feel is an important 'legacy of values' to leave behind. Read more about Vignettes...