Too Much Information

I had a strange thought yesterday. A friend and I were talking about how much information is at everyone’s fingertips on the Internet. This lead to contemplation about how much of it is just another version of something else. For every search, there are thousands of pages of the same information written in different ways.

I thought back to how little information we have of days long past, like the Egyptian times. Scribes wrote on tablets or papyrus and preciously preserved the results. Not many people could be scribes and not much information survived history’s wear and tear. In short, there are complete eras that we know little about. Researchers would love a treasure trove of information.

Then I thought of who would discover all our paper trail and history. Alright, you may laugh at this point, but think about it: Did Cleopatra ever expect her time to be a mystery? Did ancient warriors ever think their songs of great deeds would never be spoken again?

Humans are self-centered and egotistical. We never think that we may disappear or that what we know becomes lost in time. We think we’re invincible, that our concepts and designs are forever, that no one will ever wonder, “What in all hells did they use this thingamajig for?”

What I thought interesting about the whole situation is that someday, somewhere, some poor sucker is going to have the duty of sifting through all this information to find the most accurate truth.

That’s the catch: Each new article based on an old one alters wording slightly, potentially changing the true meaning or the concept to something that isn’t correct. It doesn’t take much for a message to warp and skew. Do a quick search on any subject you like, read ten of the articles you find and see if there isn’t at least one point in an article that contradicts another. There is just too much information for anyone to trust.

Think of that great kids’ game Telephone. A whole group of people gets together and whispers a message to each other, passing it one by one on to the next person. The last person to receive the message calls it out – it’s never the same as the original message that started the game.

My point? When writing an article, a blog post, or an ebook (or anything at all, for that matter), be sure to be as accurate as possible. Do your research and homework. Don’t assume that the one reference you’re quoting is the correct one. There is far too much text out there to believe it’s all the same. Compare and attempt to decipher the most correct statements possible.

That poor sucker one thousand years from now who gets stuck reading all the material we’ve created in our virtual world will thank you.

---