I would be very interested in the group's responses to the following
quotation from an article I came across by Stephen Talbott. The URL for
the article is provided, but before you read the entire thing I'd like to
get your gut responses.
J.B. Bryant
http://www.oreilly.com/people/staff/stevet/netfuture/faq.html#29
----- Start of Quote -----
_Will computers give us mastery over information?_
We are forever being told that the next advances in technology-- more
elaborate filters, information rating schemes, personalized software
agents ("knowbots") that roam the Net gleaning information precisely
targeted to our interests--will finally enable us to ride the crest of
the information flood rather than drown in it.
What we forget is that the arms race between the powers of information
proliferation and the powers of information management is an endlessly
escalating one. The logical finesse with which we manage information is
the same logical finesse that generates yet more information and
outflanks the tools of management. Software agents are quite as capable
of mindlessly flinging off information as of mindlessly collecting it.
Surely there is only one escape from the mindlessness: to realize that
the essential contest is not between information management and
information inflation, but between the obsession with information (well
managed or otherwise) and the habit of quiet reflection. It is not an
overload of information so much as a deficit of meaning we suffer from,
not a lack of proper filters so much as the loss of mental focus--an
inadequate power of sustained attention to what is important.
----- End of Quote -----
[Host's Note: The above is part of a site entitled, "FAQ on Computerized
Technology and Human Responsibility." The acronym FAQ means "Frequently
Asked Questions" ...Rick]
--"Bryant, J B" <jbryant@cas.org>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>