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Information Singularity and unpreparedness
Dec. 7th, 2018 10:27 amSingularity, definition 2: a point at which a function takes an infinite value, especially in space-time when matter is infinitely dense, as at the center of a black hole.
The Industrial revolution was a singularity, it changed the entire landscape of the world, changed the Earth's surface composition, changed the idea space within which people conceived of the future. The advent of the computer age did the same. We are approaching the jumping-off point of another singularity, a point from beyond which what we know may not apply. For decades, futurists like Ray Kurzweil have been predicting an age of technological and robotic wizardry entirely unlike previous economic or scientific progress. Part of this technological singularity appears to be the Information Singularity. The news cycle this decade has been getting faster and faster, with no time to cover all the news, or even stay abreast of the highlights of the news. This year has seemed to last multiple years due to the extra information density to which we are now exposed.
What will we do when there is too much news to be digested? And why did we not see this information overload coming? How do we beta test strategies for dealing with and prioritizing news and will those strategies hold true in the face of increasing frequency and urgency of information?
I have no answers here, only more questions.
I do think that information overload and the handling of it is going to be easier to test with people who deal with more overload. Perhaps by studying the coping strategies of ADHD and autistic people, we can find insight to help us manage. Neurological differences have to be useful for something.
Randomly, a fic: The Taste of Honey by Edonohana, Sandman fandom.
Summary: "Pink ice cream can be strawberry, or bubble-gum, or plum, or red bean, or watermelon, or cherry blossom, or pink lemonade, or raspberry, or rose. If you get it from Delirium, it can be sitcom-flavored. Or Corvette."
The Industrial revolution was a singularity, it changed the entire landscape of the world, changed the Earth's surface composition, changed the idea space within which people conceived of the future. The advent of the computer age did the same. We are approaching the jumping-off point of another singularity, a point from beyond which what we know may not apply. For decades, futurists like Ray Kurzweil have been predicting an age of technological and robotic wizardry entirely unlike previous economic or scientific progress. Part of this technological singularity appears to be the Information Singularity. The news cycle this decade has been getting faster and faster, with no time to cover all the news, or even stay abreast of the highlights of the news. This year has seemed to last multiple years due to the extra information density to which we are now exposed.
What will we do when there is too much news to be digested? And why did we not see this information overload coming? How do we beta test strategies for dealing with and prioritizing news and will those strategies hold true in the face of increasing frequency and urgency of information?
I have no answers here, only more questions.
I do think that information overload and the handling of it is going to be easier to test with people who deal with more overload. Perhaps by studying the coping strategies of ADHD and autistic people, we can find insight to help us manage. Neurological differences have to be useful for something.
Randomly, a fic: The Taste of Honey by Edonohana, Sandman fandom.
Summary: "Pink ice cream can be strawberry, or bubble-gum, or plum, or red bean, or watermelon, or cherry blossom, or pink lemonade, or raspberry, or rose. If you get it from Delirium, it can be sitcom-flavored. Or Corvette."