Tag Archives: wisdom

The Toppling Hierarchy of Information

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Web 2.o (perhaps an over-used term but a rapidly expanding source of shared information) may include user-generated content, social media, wikinomics, folksonomies and open source software.  For centuries, scholars have treasured the great works created by the most brilliant minds.  Expert authority has been regarded with great esteem by the wise elders. Now that the hierarchy of information has toppled, is respect for human ideas, creativity, and wisdom still valued?

Today, we see a trend toward “information wants to be free.” Note the link to cyberpunks and that idea that hackers are liberators of information which should never be isolated or controlled by a single ideology.  Don’t mistake my intent here to insult hackers or cyberpunks.  Some of the individuals I follow in my personal leraning network may fall into that category!

The core philosophical standards of my training as a librarian have encouraged me to balance intellectual freedom with intellectual property.  I hear many people call the Internet the “world’s biggest library” and use the term “Google” as both librarian and search strategy.  Many individuals are unaware of the cost of high quality information in academic databases.  Convenient sources, accessed immediately, are first choice.  Giving credit to the source of information retrieved online is an idea that is archaic in some circles.  Respect for intellectual property is the concern of stuffy old academics from the dark ages.  A science teacher can use a youtube video created by a 6th grader to teach magnetism, so who needs an expert?

Why I do I care?  Why am I taking the time to write this blog?

Standing among the rubble, having witnessed the toppling of the hierarchy of information, my concern is that human beings will no longer have a quest for deep understanding.  I think I am beginning to understand The Shallows by Nicholas Carr.

Who am I to write about this?  I am no authority!  I am an example of the problem I address, adding to the “sea of chaos” by writing a user-generated blog.  Spouting off my meager ramblings for the world to read (knowing that the likelihood is extremely small because the average time spent on a webpage according Nicholas Carr is only 18 seconds), I often feel unqualified to share my thoughts online.  I remind myself that I should be willing to serve as a “brave guinnea pig” in this new era because there is no going back to life before the net.

The only redeeming value I can see in this post, is that fact that I am revising a draft that I started two years ago ( August 2009).  I saw my unfinished post titled “The Toppling Hierarchy of Information” and was compelled to revise.  Oh, the power of that word- revision (to see again).

 

My Father’s Wisdom

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This week, my Dad celebrated his 85th birthday and I was so happy to have spent it with him in Seattle. We had another fabulous conversation (see my earlier blog post) about the exponential changes taking place in the information age. Born in 1926, my Dad can remember a world that is nothing like our world today. Old sayings like, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” or “there’s nothing new under the sun” may still apply to universal human situations; however, the revolutionary changes we are seeing in technology are, in my father’s words, “sometimes frightening”. Perhaps there now IS something new under the sun! Or, perhaps now- the more things change, the more they change again!

I think what impressed me most about our conversation was the wisdom in my father’s eyes. Even though times are uncertain and unlike any before, his acceptance of a higher power brings a calmness to the stormy sea of chaos.

On the flight back home, I was reading The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood. James Gleick points out that technology has caused discomfort throughout the history of communication. For example, when people began sending messages by telegraph in the 1840’s, they worried about privacy. “Compared to handwritten letters, folded and sealed with wax, the whole affair seemed public and insecure– the messages passing along those mysterious conduits, the electric wires” (Gleick, 2011, p. 145). So, both statements seem true– everything has changed yet everything seems the same. Each generation wonders what this world is coming to! We all grow into parents who worry about the future for our children.

I enjoy learning in this new age of information with all the new exciting new media formats. Yet, I also worry. My worries include entering The Shallows (next book on my list- which deals with what the Internet is doing to our brains) and investigating literature about the singularity. When I get to the scary parts, I shall remember the wisdom in my father’s eyes and his acceptance of a higher power.

Wisdom as a Precious Commodity

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“Since we are drowning in an ocean of information, the most precious commodity in modern society is wisdom” (Kaku, 2011 p. 324). Michio Kaku’s predictions for the next century, in Physics of the Future, illustrate how technology impacts all fields. The Internet now provides the opportunity for each and every one of us to share information and knowledge, but that does not guarantee wisdom. He illustrates this point with a quote from Isaac Asimov who said, “The saddest aspect of society right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

Kaku discusses the future of the computer, artificial intelligence, medicine, nanotechnology, energy, space travel, wealth and humanity through explanations of quantum physics and the concept of the “singularity” (a hypothetical time when a super intelligence emergences which is greater than human beings). Although Kaku predicts numerous changes in the next century which involve these areas, he believes no computer can compare with a human brain because the brain is “a complex jumble of neurons that constantly rewires itself” (p.75). At this point in history, a computer only acts intelligent based on programming human beings write. Complex programs may be written collaboratively, making a computer seem even more intelligent. But consider this question- at what point, if ever, does knowledge and intelligence add up to wisdom?

As we look for the best practices of technology integration (in any profession but particularly in libraries and education), an underlying philosophy promoting the quest for wisdom seems crucial, yet somehow undervalued by a large majority of the mainstream masses.

At a party recently, the topic of the rapid rise of Smart phones, texting, and geo-based apps was discussed. I casually mentioned that 98% of the population seems to care most about entertainment, while only 2% are on a quest for learning. A guy asked where I got those numbers and I told him that I just made them up! I have been thinking about that concept for quite awhile, ever since I became bombarded with cute photos on Facebook, updates on what people are eating for lunch and silly joke emails.

I asked a few close family members if they agreed with my idea that perhaps a very few individuals value education over entertainment. My husband said, I think your percentages may be off! I mean the average person probably wants to learn something, but not if it is going to scuff their good times!”

Kaku, M. (2011). Physics of the future how science will shape human destiny and our daily lives by the year 2100 Random House Digital, Inc.