The Age Of Information

[Aidan]

We live in a society today where information about anyone, or anything is at your fingertips. We have Web Searches, Informational Videos, Online Encyclopedias. However, there are many people who refuse to adapt, learn, and take advantage of these resources. They are falling behind


I bring this up as I'm sure we all notice it. In general public, at work, etc. I do not think there is any excuse to be ill-informed about our world, and how it works.


All someone would have to ask me is... "How can I learn about things?" To which I will gladly direct them to Google, and let the learning begin!


Information is at your fingertips. If you do not know how to how to access it, then ask another how. I'm sure most people would rather point one to the direction of infinite learning, instead of helping one with every basic question possible that that one person failed to try and learn themselves.


This can even be related to these forums. Where one who asks a question that has already been answered is directed by another forum member who points them to the search function.


What are your opinions on this?

[Poor]

We are extremely lucky to live in a generation that has internet access. Resources for learning before the internet were very limited.

It's not perfect though. While you can call this "The age of information" you can also call this "The age of misinformation". When it comes to politics, conspiracy theories, or anything controversial, there is much more misinformation than true information. The extreme sensationalism in online news articles is sickening. The people who think they are smarter than everyone else because they learned the US government did 9/11 after watching "Loose Change" is also sickening.

[Tejas]

Great question
Your referring to raw knowledge acquired by reading information claimed to be true facts.

My pov
Those who want to learn will. You cant help somebody who doesnt want to help themselfs.

And everybody is different some outshine others in areas that others do rather mediocre in while
sad fact is most of the general population is very different in my opinion and there will always be a gap in the community from those with true cognitive ability, Speed, Attention, Memory, Problem Solving / Math, Flexibility and overall adroitness / cleverness.

[Siva]

You'd think all this easy to access information would be creating a smarter generation.

It seems the exact opposite has happened. Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but I genuinely cringe to think that someday the Country will be run by people my age

[Psychotic]

The Internet is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

Cut to the bold if you just want more pure, biased opinion on the matter.

It's a useful tool but consider all other tools out there from your physical power tools used in building a house to your digital tools such as Photoshop used to enhance digital imagery and photographs.

Not everyone can use these tools. Not everyone wants to. Some call these people "luddites", I call them apart of a different generation. They don't detest or protest against the tools, they simply don't use them nor have any desire to do so.

My father respects the knowledge that can be gained from using the internet. He knows how to use a computer, but he doesn't like them. The Internet could be useful for him but he doesn't want to use it. Fair enough.

So my opinion on the matter?

My opinion is pretty simple: The Internet is an excellent source of knowledge but I fear that it will become the only source of knowledge. Things like radios, newspapers and even conventional magazines and books are being phased out for digital counterparts. I like the Internet but I actually prefer reading a physical book or learning from an actual teacher. I am not disciplined enough to teach myself via the Internet itself.

I understand that these are different times and people should adapt, but it's not me I'm worried about. As great as technology is I believe we should never rely on just one tool. We may need all this power, all this technology, but if the world crumbles at our feet due to natural disasters or man-made destruction then we're pretty much screwed.

We put all our eggs in one basket, largely because we must to sustain the global population, but even just thinking about contingency plans would be a great boon on a rainy day, even if we can't expend the resources to do all that must be done.

I'm not a big fan of waiting around for something to happen before we try to fix it. I believe in preparation, but I also understand it'd be far too costly and inefficient to make proper contingency plans, especially when the world can barely contain what we've already got.

[Aidan]

You all have fantastic points:

Poor, yes it CAN be the age of misinformation depending on how one interoperates news. I mean, unless you're actually there at a news scene; you can't be too sure what is real and what is not. The information we receive now really isn't so far off from when we only had the TV, and newspapers to depend upon. It is only that we now have MORE (mis)information that have now led us into the age of paranoia (as I like to call it ), as we have more internet communities that debate world truths more often than we used to (again, the internet is only amplifying what already existed). The smarter of the younger generations are questioning everything more often than not (although most teens still have a poor grasp on how the world actually works).

Proto, I think this all comes down to parenting, or how one was raised. While I too cringe, I still believe that parents much teach kids how the internet works/what to believe, and what not to/how the media works. I find that many kids just suck in all of the bullshit that comes with the internet (if I can use an analogy... They are only eating the gristle instead of the steak). Again, it comes down to parenting, which so many adults are becoming worse at this day and age. Life will take it's natural course though following Darwin's teachings... The ones that will survive in this world are the ones who adapt. Humans are past the age of "strength=survival," as survival now lays in our intelligence for future years, which brings me to this next part.

If you are a bad parent (in our now present and future times), you will not teach your child how to use information properly, as you do not wish to learn yourself...

Tejas "Those who want to learn will. You cant help somebody who doesnt want to help themselves"
is one of my favorite quotes. I can't explain the amount of times I've said this haha. It applies directly to this.

...and unless something drastically changes in that family line; the family line will rocket downward in a spiral of beefy payments and stress due to lack-of modern day intellect, and therefore lack of understanding the mechanics of modern life. They will be the paying backbone fuelling the higher intellect.

I tell you though, if there's one thing that China is doing right, it's paying to have kids. (e.g. Proving you want the child bad enough, proving you have the funds to support the child; where having the funds to pay for the child while supporting yourself proves financial intelligence most of the time). I think the price is a bit too high; but at a certain price, the system would be perfect.


Magniir, returning back to this part...

"If you are a bad parent (in our now present and future times), you will not teach your child how to use information properly, as you do not wish to learn yourself..."

As much as certain people may not want to use the internet, it is now becoming necessary to learn. Want, and need are two different things, and the internet is now falling under the category of 'need' in a first world society. Even basic (intelligent) internet skills are fine. I put intelligent in brackets as a reference to my gristle analogy with information.

I don't blame older generations such as our parents for not caring to use the internet, as they probably will not really need to in their lifetime. That's perfectly fine; but WE as the current/next generation(s) have a responsibility to use the information wisely, and teach internet usage properly to our possible future children, so they can survive with ease in a modern world.

In today's modern Darwinism, we have a steak where a large amount of our population choose to eat the gristle instead of the meat.

I don't think the internet will consume all conventional means just yet. In fact; the mass amount of (mis)information one can locate on the internet, can only encourage communications of conventional means to convey the utmost truth. Otherwise, yes, it is possible they can die out. Although radios stump me as to where they could end up. I don't think we'll throw away radios for multi-way channel communication, but one-way information I'm not so sure about.

[Psychotic]

Honestly, I don't believe it's my responsibility to teach people how to use the Internet. My children perhaps, but not anyone else.

I am far more computer literate than the people who raised me. I know much more about the Internet than they do. I don't recall ever being told by my parents what information was true or false on the internet, I learnt it myself through experience.

People don't need to be taught by superiors or their parents. They need to watch and listen, too. The Internet is far too easy a scapegoat for people who can't be bothered using other peoples experiences alongside their own to learn.

[Aidan]

Honestly, I don't believe it's my responsibility to teach people how to use the Internet. My children perhaps, but not anyone else.

I am far more computer literate than the people who raised me. I know much more about the Internet than they do. I don't recall ever being told by my parents what information was true or false on the internet, I learnt it myself through experience.

People don't need to be taught by superiors or their parents. They need to watch and listen, too. The Internet is far too easy a scapegoat for people who can't be bothered using other peoples experiences alongside their own to learn.

Yes, I wasn't talking about teaching anyone else besides our own kids.

I am in the same situation about my computer literacy. It is our interest that drove us. Not many peoples parents have taught them anything at all because it's a new technology. As I have previously stated, I don't expect the older generations to know about, and teach the internet.

Anyone can use the internet with some knowledge about it; but that doesn't mean that they can use it properly.

If I had a child that didn't care about the internet that much; I would still teach them general things about it so they can survive with general technologies we use today.

[Mastakilla]

I've learned all my English through the internet, actually pretty much all the knowledge I have is from the internet. I dropped out of school when I was only 13, yet I don't think I'm a dumbass like alot of people like to think about people who don't finish school. The internet is great, and can teach you alot. I also think there's alot of misinformation out there, and to impressionable people that can be pretty dangerous, or exciting for them I suppose. I don't think it's a big issue though, like said before in this thread it's not much different from when radio/tv was being relied on for information.

[Aidan]

to impressionable people

Yes! There are the key words. I guess that what I was trying to say earlier; Ensuring my future kids will not be impressionable offline and online.

I don't think it's a big issue though, like said before in this thread it's not much different from when radio/tv was being relied on for information.

Yes, it isn't much different as far as what one is subjected to reading/hearing. Thing is though... That the internet is a tool where one can communicate back, which is the real substantial difference. That being said, it's like a mutated cell in the genetics of communication. It could turn out any which way, for the better or worse.


As you've said, you've learned most of your English online, where I'm still working on Dutch (slowly lol), and am learning inside-out music production with Ableton.

The internet is a powerful.

[Mastakilla]

to impressionable people

Yes! There are the key words. I guess that what I was trying to say earlier; Ensuring my future kids will not be impressionable offline and online.

Easy, tell them alot of lies, they'll learn to question everything!

[Aidan]

to impressionable people

Yes! There are the key words. I guess that what I was trying to say earlier; Ensuring my future kids will not be impressionable offline and online.

Easy, tell them alot of lies, they'll learn to question everything!

Brilliant!

I'll start with

"Your mother is actually your sister"

then

"They found water on Earth, and there may be life. Gravity is stronger though because Earth has more mass than Neptune"

My kids are going to be so fucked up.

[-TheSpecialist-]

Although we have access to an excess amount of knowledge and numerous avenues to access it; how do people ( users ) sift through the various truths that exist out there?

What are people supposed to believe? We can also have various interpretations of what the truth is and the knowledge comes with it. In the end we may have access to vast amounts of data, yet it is up to the rational individual to discern what the view as truth from the other truths.