The age of information

It would be boring indeed to detail the innumerable ways in which information has become important to economic activity and social cohesion. We have all been told so many times. If information really does perform so vital a function it must be very different from the disposable stuff which pours over us in an unending mish-mash of news, views and abuse. Facts, speculations and persuasion are smoothly blended – I almost wrote ‘blanded’ – as the trite, the trivial and the titillating are fleetingly presented as having as much claim on our attention as more important matters. We have no control over the flow, and no way of answering back. We are, of course, still allowed to turn it off, but like amputation that is a remedy of the last resort.

Perhaps the development of IT will let us select, question and compare. It is necessary to write ‘perhaps’ because IT merely enables, it does not compel and cannot guarantee. Strong commercial and political interests will continue to fish for our attention and strive to steer our responses. This they would be able to do all the more insidiously were we to permit our use of IT to persuade us that we were now in full control. What can come out of an IT system depends on what goes into it, and I see no rush to abandon control over the primary sources.