A Quote Worth Pondering

"Technology reduces the amount of time it takes to do any one task but also leads to the expansion of tasks that people are expected to do." – Juliet Schor

Choices and Misery

"Logic suggests that having options allows people to select precisely what
makes them happiest. But, as studies show, abundant choice often makes for
misery."
Barry Schwartz, "The Tyranny of Choice," Scientific American, April 2004

What is Information?

Information: a message received and understood
Information: a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn, "statistical data"
Information: knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction

Information: that which reduces uncertainty. (Claude Shannon)
Information: that which changes us. (Gregory Bateson)
Information must be something, although the exact nature isn't clear

Information must not be a repetition of previously received message
Information must be true; a lie or false or counterfactual information is mis-information.
Information must be about something.

Scientific Info for 460 Years

"As we go from grade school to high school we learn only a billionth of what there is to learn. There is enough scientific information written every day to fill seven complete sets of Encyclopedia Britannica; there is enough scientific information written every year to keep a person busy reading day and night for 460 years!" Source B. L. Siegel, Vital Speeches of the Day, 4/15/84!!

It's Official: Multi-tasking Sucks

Jordan Grafman, chief of the cognitive neuroscience section of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, quoted in Time Magazine: "Decades of research, not to mention common sense, indicate that the quality of one's output and depth of thought deteriorate as one attends to ever more tasks.”

An annotated Webliography

Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov says “In Greek mythology, Sisyphus, an evil king, was condemned to Hades to forever roll a big rock to the top of a mountain, and then the rock always rolled back down again. A similar version of Hell is suffered every day by people with forever full e-email boxes. At his website Dr. Bezroukov provides an “Information and Work Overload” annotated Webliography.

Information Defined

Information is a message received and understood.
Information is a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn.
Information is statistical data.
Information is knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction.

“Information is that which reduces uncertainty.” Claude Shannon

Information must be something or about something, although the exact nature – substance, energy, or abstract concept – isn't clear.
Information is not a repetition of previously received message.
Information must be true. A lie or false or counterfactual information is mis-information

“Information is that which changes us.” Gregory Bateson