The Paradox of the Great Information Flood
You’ve heard it before: we live today in what’s called the “Information Age”. And before that? It was the Industrial age. We progressed from aesthetically pleasing systematization — from the elegant efficiency of mass production of physical things to the chaotic, grotesquely expanding rhythm of mass information production.
Such a shift is not merely a difference in kind. It is a difference in speed and in quantity. It also constitutes a refashioning of the temperament of our society. Like so many outgrowths of the 21st century, the riotous information age is underpinned by an exponential force and not by the linearity of yore. Which is to say that the product of the Information Age — information — is produced at an energetically compounding clip.
The sheer volume in our digitized and hyperconnected world is not merely an impressive spectacle to witness — it is something of a concerning pressure on human societies. It contains all the disruptive energy of a paradigm shift. It is a shock to the system. And make no mistake: it is not easy for contemporary society to digest.
So, plenty of the floundering we witness in today’s world can be attributed to the profound disruption of the Information Age. What do I mean by that? The Information Age, curiously, is not only societally disruptive but the source of turbulence on the…
