Life in the Fast Lane

Message 283 of 2733

This is an offshoot from another thread, but I thought it deserved it's own examination.
In this day and age, if you think about it, we are receiving all the information from everyone all over the world immediately. Everything, all the time.

What is the consequence on the human mind, personally, and societally? As opposed to, say, they 19th century. When our information was more local, and given more time to process.

I feel that with information going through us like water through a hose, we don't process it properly, and therefore, it's really useless noise. Does this informational "White Noise" act the same way? Keeping the mind from acting on the information and contributing to the "Dumbing of America"? so to speak.

posted by Baxtor

Replies 1 - 10 of 40

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I think so Baxtor, we are sound byte rich and knowledge destitute . I don't believe that the human brain evolved to be able to handle the current level of stimuli and information that it receives almost non-stop today .Envision the world in which all of our great thinkers lived . They weren't trying to formulate thoughts while a TV was on , the phone was ringing , e-mails were coming in over blackberry , planes were flying overhead , and horns were honking and car alarms going off outside the door .

posted by Dirck
5 months ago

Perhaps information reached a lesser number of people back in the 19th century, but in greater depth. Today, information reaches a much larger number of people. Just how in depth is up to the receiver.

posted by MartiInMexico
5 months ago

But that which we consider information, is, in fact, a distraction. Keeping us from processing that information properly. I relate it to the episode of I Love Lucy when they worked in the candy factory. That belt is going faster all the time.

posted by Baxtor
5 months ago

The answer to that depends upon the person. Some people choose to live life superficially, live on and for trivia which explains the popular of the nattering sites, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter (for twits, I assume) while others wade through heavier pursuits and information.

When it comes to people's minds, the old computer term truly fits: GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out.

posted by GothamGal
5 months ago

"going through us like water through a hose, we don't process it properly"

Maybe that is an assumption. We may be processing on a different level than 19'th century thinkers.

WE may just be thinking more on a global level than our own little communities.

posted by wot53
5 months ago

wot53 says,
We may be processing on a different level than 19'th century thinkers.

That may be sadly so. And to prove it, go into a book store, and pick up a 19th century elementary school book. And try and read it.
And to make things worse, compare the language in it to a college level textbook of today on the same subject. Science is a good one.
The stuff they're teaching in colleges now, was required by 7th graders in the 19th century.
My source is:
Botany for Beginners:
Introduction to Mrs. Lincoln's Lectures on Botany
Published by Huntington and Savage in 1844

posted by Baxtor
5 months ago

I think this input overload really messes with our ability to discriminate. I will remember some item such as "Jones is a crook", but I don't remember where I heard it so I don't know if it is fact, opinion, slander, or perhaps even the punch line of a joke.

posted by Flicka39
5 months ago

I think it has to do with our own filters so to speak. Just because we have more information does not mean that it is accurate. As far as processing all of it we must exercise a degree of judgment and logic. Much of what we get as information today is mere speculation or conjecture based on nothing more than partial information.....I think there is a great deal to be said for not jumping to conclusions. As a minor example, to speculate up front about the extent of an injury to the Secretary of State serves nothing more than to make our lives soap operas as opposed to factual information. I really miss Walter Kronkite.

posted by cls6926
5 months ago

For me,
I'm still the same speed;
still trust in the old sources of info;
A year of law school taught me one important thing,
look at the source of your info.
That would mean screw most of the American media

posted by tjbr52
5 months ago

Mining information is like gold mining there's a lot of ore to sift through.

Each ton of ore that is hauled out of a good pit mine may contain about a tenth of an ounce of gold. With gold at, say, $900 an ounce, that makes a ton of ore worth $90, tops

Cyanide is used to extract gold from ore. Some form of "cyanide" is needed to extract "gold" from the mounds of data.

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