Nassim N. Taleb, Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering, NYU-Poly, for his contribution [to the online symposium see also my summary of Hillis' post for context] has argued that greater information produces greater confidence, and in this post adds that since the Internet does not merely increase our access to information but also our interdependence (see the previous post). Interdependence increases fads (he uses both Harry Potter and the globalisation of runs on banks as examples). "Such world", he writes, "is more "complex", more moody, much less predictable."His conclusion is practical and personal, in an attempt to regain wisdom like that shown by the ancients and people from the pre-Internet past, he is enjoying an Internet fast:
I am not entirely deprived of the Internet; this is just a severe diet, with strict rationing. True, technologies are the greatest things in the world, but they have way too monstrous side effects — and ones rarely seen ahead of time. And since spending time in the silence of my library, with little informational pollution, I can feel harmony with my genes; I feel I am growing again.
Labels: culture, digital, internet
¶ 9:03 PM
[to Del.icio.us]
It is knowledge and experience which bring confidence, but a wealth of mere information can be self-contradictory. But I may have missed the connection in your post between that point and what followed.
Anyway, these posts are fascinating, Tim. Please do keep them coming!
By 
Bill, at
January 17, 2010 7:03 AM
I think (to check what Taleb thought do read the original posts) that "knowledge" here might be better in scare quotes. increased information produces the illusion of greater knowledge, which in fact degrades knowledge.
But it is the combination of information and (degrees of perceived) certainty with the tendency for more immediate communication to increase interdependence and so fads, that interests and scares me!
I do think the Internet mediated world of 2010 "is more 'complex', more moody, much less predictable" than the paper and broadcast mediated world of 1960.
By Tim, at
January 17, 2010 1:14 PM
