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The Grand Illusion
“The crisis of our times is our minds have been conditioned to give power to illusions”.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”
— Abraham Lincoln. 1838 Lyceum Address
Just In Time
Ours is a world of Information. Fast information. And so much of it to process. And so little time. And it’s only getting faster. Slowing down to take a look a things seems the only thing to do in a case like this.
But slowing down … that’s easier said than done. The Inertia. It’s powerful. And it’s as if we have no brakes. Or just don’t want to use them. Or can’t, for some reason.
Let’s have a look at this, I say, …. at least for a minute … while there’s still time.
Speed / Inertia / Convenience
Information is neutral. It has no meaning. It must be processed, interpreted before it takes on a meaning or value. This takes time.
But we are in such a hurry these days our processing time is limited — our first glance at information is through a quick, emotional filter.
Often we simply don’t have the time or mental bandwidth to get past the initial emotional reaction, so we go with that as “truth” and move on to the next emergency.
Like our food, it is more convenient to get our information preprocessed than to take the time to till the soil, plant, tend, harvest, and process the crops at the required time.
Gardening is something people do when they retire. For the rest of us, time is of the essence. But we’ve run out of time.
Compromises must now be made — in the form of convenient, pre-processed, bite-sized interpretations.
But these interpretations contain filler, and added ingredients, some of which are harmful.
News of the World
Once upon a time, there were only a handful of information sources. It was a happier time.
