Shifting powers, individuals and networks
The difference between information and knowledge could be compared to the difference between facts and interpretations. They are inextricably linked. One is useless without the other. It is like having raw data or statistics but no formula or theory to give meaning or systematic form to it. In the Postmoden era we supposedly live in, both these two realms are drifting further apart to the point where they reach either hyper subjectivism or amorphous objectivism. The gap grows larger and larger with no end in sight. We are overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of information with no seeming order and coherence to it. Information is unmanageable because it is extremely diffuse; while our interpretive lenses multiply exponentially to create an indecipherable matrix of disorder, disarray and chaotic flux. The minute we try to impose order on information it subverts it, twisting, manipulating and deconstructing it; reconstructing it in new and innovative ways that eludes the regulatory mechanisms that try to shape it.
Juicy post. I guess at one point in time people felt relatively confident that they knew all there was to know about a subject. For example, the German language can be known completely. English, however, is impossible to fully know, it has too many variations, words, cultural versions. Each time an attempt is made to know it all/ understand it all it grows and changes. Your post seems to be underpinned by questions also concerning the meaning of life. If we cannot hope to understand the information we have in the postmodern era, what is the point of our existence?
Well you could say that. I think that most people, to a certain extent still rely on modern hierarchies, but the fact is we are faced with multiple realties to choose from. And because of this multiplication of ‘truths’ we risk ending up with no truth. This doesn’t necessarily lead to meaninglessness (although it can), but makes the social world more complex and harder to manoeuvre through because in ‘traditional’ societies we had unequivocal guides, boundaries and mythologies to follow. The internet (post-modern epistemology) opens a veritable Pandora’s Box which could lead to all sorts of existential nihilism.
Peace people
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