"...all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades
Forever and forever when I move."
Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson
I have a thirst for knowledge. As humbling as it is, I really enjoy the illumination that comes from suddenly realizing that there is even more I did not know.
When I suddenly realize how little I know, it is like walking through a door to the outside world for the first time. All I previously knew was that indoor life, and I could not even conceptualize an "outdoors." Suddenly, I am humbled, a little frightened, and so much in awe.
This is why I chase the inconsistencies and gaps in my knowledge and education when I can. If I hear a word I don't know, I look it up or write it down to look up later.
If someone says something that sounds implausible, I generally smile and nod, but then I write it down. Later, I research it. I want to know whether or not it is true. I learn a lot this way because my research often takes me well beyond the scope of the conversation.
Similarly, if I read something in a novel that is supposedly true, but is surprising, I look it up.
I believe this is the golden age of information. I think most people imagine it will only improve, but I have never been prone to such unbridled fits of optimism. Since that is the case, I am enjoying the moment, in a historical sense. I hate the moment in a historical sense in terms of what is happening in Ukraine and how others are suffering throughout the world. The information access is something I love, and I hope it continues.
The thing about looking things up is that you learn to be selective about your sources. If you are not sure how, that is the first thing you should Google (or use DuckDuckGo if you are more security conscious). We all have to learn how to be smart consumers of information.
I think everyone believes they are already a smart consumer of information. Therefore, the first step in becoming a smart consumer of information is to flip this assumption. What? Yes. Flip it! What if you are not a smart consumer of information? This is what I ask myself CONSTANTLY. Ironically, it is when I feel "smart" that I fall for stupid crap.
For example, I know I mentioned this previously, but I was on FB and an article came up. It seemed interesting. I thought, "Well, this must be true because it says it is Forbes." Being "smart," I knew Forbes could be relied on in most cases, at least, not to report a story that was 100% false. Nevertheless, because of a habit of "trust but verify," I checked the story and found zero corroboration. That seemed odd, so I finally looked at the URL and realized it was not Forbes at all. It was an imposter!
Had I assumed I was stupider, I might have thought, "This is interesting, but I am probably falling for a phishing scam or something," and I might have checked the URL sooner. As it was, though, at least I didn't click the suspicious links in the article.
One disturbing trend I notice is that there is a similarity among top results in Google. However, this similarity does not always translate to informational accuracy. It does, nonetheless, give the impression that the information must be true if so many websites "agree."
I think I know what is happening here. I believe it is a byproduct of two things: SEO (search engine optimization) and an SEO technique called "skyscraper." SEO, in case you don't know, is simply making your website more "friendly" to search engines with the aim that it will rank higher.
The "skyscraper" technique is a sophisticated SEO method where a website pulls information (hopefully manually) from the top ranking websites for a given keyword. It then writes an article that stacks all that information together. Thus, websites that rank higher tend to agree with each other more and more and more without necessarily being at all accurate.
Finding information that is accurate has nothing to do with Google ranking and it has nothing to do with the number of websites that repeat the information. After all, anyone can make a website and write anything on it.
It is, however, so important to ensure that information is accurate. Otherwise, we are building our worldview on a foundation of sand. We are allowing hucksters to make fools of us rather than seeking out valid sources, and learning the truth.
To me, the truth is to be found in less biased media sources, in peer reviewed scientific journals, in magazines which are rigorously fact checked, both online and offline. These are becoming increasingly rare. While I read a lot of blog articles and watch some videos, I consider these to be opinion.
To be fair, I do often learn a lot from these blog posts, and I use them as a jumping off point for further research. However, I would never substitute someone else's strong opinion for my own. That is one of the greatest things about being human. Maybe it is the only great thing: we have minds and we can have our own ideas. It doesn't matter what those around us believe or what our ancestors thought. We are free to think as we please. Given this, I wish more people engaged in independent thought.
Much Love,
Harlow
P.S. My thoughts and heart go out to the people of Ukraine. My heart also goes out to all people in the world who are suffering in whatever way -- I have read some people who think we forget one crisis when we reflect on another, but, for me, at least, this is not true. I hope you can hold on until better days come. This post script might seem repetitive, but it is important to me that people don't imagine that I have forgotten their suffering. I wish we could live in a world where as few people as possible would suffer. Maybe no one.
