Noah's ark and the Great flood of Information

 

What is the cheapest commodity in the world right now? I think it is Information. In fact, it is free.

Information is now accessible to all. It is so easy to be enlightened now. All you need to do is to login to YouTube, learn from WhatsApp, join Facebook, Telegram groups and you get more information than what was contained in the library of Alexandria, when the Roman forces, “accidentally” put it on fire. To add on to your knowledge you have the digital avatars of traditional media, the digital newspapers, and newsfeeds. In this world of ours, it is impossible not to know an event that has happened 5 minutes back. The great flood is not a myth, believe me, we are living in it. The great flood of information.

This great flood of information has drowned us already and we seem not at all aware of it. We believe we are breathing in the fresh air when we have ceased to become humans. We are in an interim state between humans and robots, having neither the human capacity of intellect nor the precision of robotic analysis. One human attribute that is lost to this age of information is our relationship with our own minds. We are no longer mindful of our humanity.

Overexposure to information has reduced our ability to get curious, creating a vicious cycle leading to the death of the inquisitive mind. Information is no longer precious, it is everywhere. Some are good information, some are bad, some are false, and some are true. There is a treasure trove of information lying all around us and we have lost our sense to identify which piece of information is worthy of our attention and which is not.

The fundamental problem that I see over here is that acquiring information from direct experiences is very difficult and our isolation is so complete in the modern world that the quality of our experiences is no longer rich enough.

The other option we have is to know from books. Amazingly, if you look at the data, our reading ability is decreasing by the day. The void that is generated by the complex modern society is thus being filled up by cheap information that lies abound. People have developed successful business models to fill your minds with garbage information, targeted to the consumer in you.

Popular culture is helping the eradication of value in society by positioning cheap content in front of you. As an example, if you are used to the trashes of Bollywood, you will never reach out to the shelves of Fellini and Kurosawa.  Materials that prompt you to think, are being gradually but systematically eliminated by the market forces. Your thoughts are being controlled. It may or may not be driven by a person or a group, but it is, nevertheless, driven by the market. Even if you buy a book to read, you get those that the market wants you to buy and, in the process, you lose out on serious information that lies beyond your immediate reach. A consumerist book reader is hardly a man or a woman of thought. Just as an example of what I just said, I personally have never seen a Noam Chomsky in the bookstores that we have in the airports. Maybe I am wrong in my observation, but in general it is true that information that lies hidden from you are never consumed. So, even if we start reading more from today, chances are that we will still not know what we should read. In the absence of value in society there is hardly anyone who has got the right intellectual background to guide us, even.  

Without this guidance, information that lies all around us are nothing more than garbage. You want to learn something, you go to Wikipedia and read it ten times, you gather information, but you never ever learn it. The absence of this human spark prevents information to become knowledge.

The whole purpose of saying all these is that information gathering without any human supervision is useless in most cases. If we try to do that, we will only learn what our conditioned ego wants to learn. We never will understand the perspective that lies beyond our understanding.

Now I quote from a scene from Rashomon,

“Well, men are only men. That's why they lie. They can't tell the truth, even to themselves.

That may be true. Because men are weak, they lie to deceive themselves.”

Our egos stand between us and our knowledge.

 Philosophy set aside , let’s stop deceiving ourselves and try to prioritize our information sources.

1.       Direct human interactions with the masters of the trade.

2.       Reading books written by them and discussing within closed groups.

3.       Putting yourself on the shoes of the diagonally opposite perspective and question the legitimacy of their views.

4.       If you cannot live without Google, search the names of the books that can be of interest to you, buy the paperbacks or go to the library and read. Please do not read on the Internet. It is a mess of information, may be cheap but not worthy of you. I wish we could have read in our mobiles or tablets but usually there is so much distraction designed for these gadgets, that it is not possible to focus. Simple !

 Now when you search for information over internet and social media, what can happen to you? You spend lot of time in these platforms and instead of knowing something you end up being sick of the side effects.

I asked ChatGPT what can happen if I spend much time on the net and social media, looking for information and here came the reply. (Only the following paragraphs are written by ChatGPT, so you can call this blog a human-AI collaborative work 😊)

Mental Health Issues: Excessive use of social media has been linked to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Constant exposure to idealized or curated lifestyles can negatively impact self-esteem and mental well-being.

Addiction and Distraction: Social media platforms are designed to be addictive, leading to excessive use and distraction from real-life activities. Constant scrolling and notifications can disrupt focus and productivity.

Comparison and FOMO: Seeing others' highlight reels can lead to comparison, fostering feelings of inadequacy or fear of missing out (FOMO). This can create a cycle of dissatisfaction with one's own life.

Cyberbullying and Hate Speech: social media can be a breeding ground for cyberbullying, hate speech, and harassment. Negative interactions and exposure to hateful content can deeply affect mental health and self-esteem.

Misinformation and Polarization: Misleading or false information spreads rapidly on social media, contributing to polarization and divisiveness. It can reinforce echo chambers and erode trust in reliable sources of information.

Privacy Concerns: Sharing personal information on social media can pose privacy risks. Data breaches, identity theft, and misuse of personal information are significant concerns.

Impact on Relationships: Overuse of social media can lead to neglect of real-life relationships, affecting face-to-face interactions and intimacy.

Physical Health Effects: Excessive screen time can contribute to sedentary behavior, leading to health issues like eye strain, poor posture, and disrupted sleep patterns.

Impact on Social Skills: Over-reliance on online communication may hinder the development of strong interpersonal skills and face-to-face interaction, leading to difficulties in forming real-life connections.

Privacy and Security Risks: Sharing personal information online can lead to privacy breaches, identity theft, and exposure to online scams or phishing attempts.

Decreased Productivity: While the internet offers vast resources, it can also be a source of distraction. Excessive time spent browsing or on non-productive activities can decrease overall productivity.

Balancing social media use and taking breaks, setting boundaries, critically evaluating content, and being mindful of its impact are crucial in mitigating these negative effects. It's essential to use social media mindfully and in moderation to maintain a healthy relationship with it.

 

One last word from me, “ Be mindful of the information that you receive and process “