Comments on: An Information Diet

By: Paris

Paris — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:36:10 +0000

Information sickness, is just as any other sickness: it strikes those who have a weakness.And that weakness is a limited brain information storage/filtering capacity!So depending on your intelectual abilities, you will be more or less afflicted by information sickness…I admit this disease seems strange to me, just as it seems strange to the slim overater that some other people are obese.

By: Link

Link — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:05:12 +0000

A very good and thorough analysis like always! I have been going through almost the exact synopsis and realization recently. Actually, just about everything posted on this blog aligns so nicely with conclusions I’ve been making myself, but so so so much more eloquently put!Anyway, keep up the good work, your blog is that “information diet” we need, and I wish I found it a year or two ago when I had to cut through all the bullshit to find the same information as here in this blog.What I’m wondering is if that will be enough, or are there other steps we can take to help move things along? Like teaching openness, or how to live in the ways you mention throughout your blog. What I have found personally, is that people hold onto their current lives and do not want to change, because they do not have an alternative to fulfill their addictions, want the quick and easy fix (which their are none), seeing an easier and better way to do something without too much effort on their part (again extremely difficult because effort has to be made to change), and find support and comfort in their change (I know way too many people who want to be more sustainable, but do not have the everyday support to do so….which stems from feeling powerless in a society which teaches powerlessness)

By: John Graham

John Graham — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:50:52 +0000

Yeah I’d like a little help with the bailout example too. I’m guessing it has something to do with sidestepping the immorality of the no-strings-attached bailouts themselves…but I can’t quite see the link with a definition of tautology.I’d like to tautoko(support) Melinda’s comment – it seems important.I’d like to recall what I think Chris Corrigan said in your interview with him: read for inspiration, not information.And I’d like to comment on “We mistake deciding for acting”: Yes and, perhaps we forget what a decision is. Decision IS action, cutting clean…Robert Bly writes of the tragedy of young men unable even to hold a sword, let alone wield it. No way can we escape our multiple addictions (including to being “informed”?), without decision. Perhaps, “We fool ourselves by making petty decisions on which opinion to wear, instead of taking responsibility for truly deciding”.

By: asdf

asdf — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:37:24 +0000

Makes good sense for the most part Dave. I'm not sure though that we can bring everyone to the same intellectual/informational level of understanding/appreciation, and even if we get close, the status/snobbery on other difference(s)(ie gender,profession,age,wealth,race,religion,ingroup etc) will continue to poison communication. Also, could you explain your example for "tautological (e.g. that the AIG exec bonuses paid from taxpayer bailouts are immoral)" further? Seems to be the hot topic in the US right now with about a 95-5 split for the "immoral" side. What is your position here? Pardon me if I am not understanding the nuance.See http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/03/anger-rising.html for a quick example.Thank you.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:40:15 +0000

In her book The Other Side of Language, A Philosophy of Listening, by Gemma Corradi Fiumara.After pointing out the dangers of what she calls a “logocentric” culture wherein too much emphasis is placed on the prestige of utterance and not enough on listening, she puts forward the idea that proper listening is in fact a kind of womb for facilitating the birth of new thought. Even (under the right circumstances) of a renewed person. The listener is a midwife of sorts, and can literally “hear” another person into being – particularly when that person is struggling to express new understandings of self & world. She particularly espouses a “rigorous” kind of listening in which one has to be carefully trained. The role of a teacher or parent in this context is, of course, beyond calculation. My favourate Fiumara quote is: “What is ‘un-hearable’ becomes ‘un-heard of’.”But don’t let me try to summarize a superb book filled with many complex and subtle thoughts. Read it.

By: Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:04:55 +0000

THE challenge of this and future eras, notably in finding easy (as in accessible to more) and practical ways to use the information flows and chatter to illuminate, inform and support constructive action, as opposed to aimless, lame self-indulgence.

By: David Parkinson

David Parkinson — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:37:53 +0000

Boy, does this ever encapsulate a lot of things we talk about in our house!The business about information being actionable is something that has making me crazy for a long time now. I cannot understand how so many people can continue to get by on a diet of depressing and non-actionable news. I’m on a number of local email lists, and so much of what gets people going are items designed to make people feel powerless and weak. Why do people pass this things along? It’s junk food for the mind and entrenches so much negative thinking and moral stalemate.A few people in my community are starting to come together around the idea of a group news/opinion blog, which we hope will supply information with the following characteristics:- timely- upbeat (as much as possible)- actionable- contextualized by a local orientation- aimed at positive change in the region- honest, not sold to advertisers- well-writtenWe’ll see how far we get, but we’re off to a pretty good start so far.