You know they say a little information can be a dangerous thing. I believe that wholeheartedly. I have always felt that before you can fix something you really need to know how it works. You need to at least know the basic principles is my feeling. Now that applies to mechanical things, things that I am concerned with. That is not true as much today as it used to be as I have grown a fondness for the esoteric things in life as I have aged. But having done so I gained a new understanding of that expression, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. It applies to almost everything. It is all related to the measurement of intelligence. And intelligence is a subjective thing. What is the best thing ?
This thought came to mind as I listened to a television commercial for some drug or another. It is where far too many are getting their " medical " knowledge these days. It surely must drive the doctors nuts. That lead to the thought that far too many get their information from the main stream media, a business. I also think far too many are unaware of that reality, that the news is a money making operation, not necessarily an information distribution center. The knowledge they impart is biased in that regard. It is all about the ratings ! That is also tied to the recent proliferation of attractive news people, especially the weather and traffic ladies. Really quite obvious if you think about it. The thing is whether it is a commercial for a product or an entire program it makes little difference. The object is to sell the product. What do you want to hear ? And that can be a problem. It isn't misinformation that concerns me as much as leaving out additional information that could influence your decision. That is most evident with the drug commercials. It took " law " for them to reveal any possible side effects from these drugs. Prior to that it was just, pop this pill and you'll feel great. Same with cigarettes back in the day. Winston taste good like a cigarette should and all that.
I do find it amazing that in this information age so many are woefully uninformed. I believe that stems directly from the ease of obtaining that information. We tend to just listen and absorb it as fact without studying the subject at all. Worse yet many use this information super highway to locate a source to back up their own version of truth. If you search enough you will locate a like mind. We also tend to forget that more than one person can be wrong simultaneously on the same issue. Yes, you can hitch your horse to the wrong wagon ! I know because I have been guilty of just that. It does require additional effort to understand the underlying principle of operation. Whether that operation is mechanical or conjectural in nature makes little difference.
I suppose you could say information is replacing common sense far too often. I'm thinking that we need to allow our children to exercise their common sense to a far greater degree. I hear complaints about the children spending far too much time playing video games and texting or whatever on their phones and I couldn't agree more. As a child I was, of necessity, forced to use my imagination to a much greater degree than many children today. I also had to know how to repair things because they weren't getting replaced. In order to repair them I did have to acquire the basic principle upon which they operated. It was all information. Information is a wonderful thing and the application of that information is what is of primary importance. Could be we need to develop a way of changing this from the information age to the application age. Funny when you think about it isn't it ? Was a day when common sense and the application of that common sense was what drove mankind forward. Now it seems we have far too much information and no means to apply it. Well I'm certain we will develop an " app " for that.
This thought came to mind as I listened to a television commercial for some drug or another. It is where far too many are getting their " medical " knowledge these days. It surely must drive the doctors nuts. That lead to the thought that far too many get their information from the main stream media, a business. I also think far too many are unaware of that reality, that the news is a money making operation, not necessarily an information distribution center. The knowledge they impart is biased in that regard. It is all about the ratings ! That is also tied to the recent proliferation of attractive news people, especially the weather and traffic ladies. Really quite obvious if you think about it. The thing is whether it is a commercial for a product or an entire program it makes little difference. The object is to sell the product. What do you want to hear ? And that can be a problem. It isn't misinformation that concerns me as much as leaving out additional information that could influence your decision. That is most evident with the drug commercials. It took " law " for them to reveal any possible side effects from these drugs. Prior to that it was just, pop this pill and you'll feel great. Same with cigarettes back in the day. Winston taste good like a cigarette should and all that.
I do find it amazing that in this information age so many are woefully uninformed. I believe that stems directly from the ease of obtaining that information. We tend to just listen and absorb it as fact without studying the subject at all. Worse yet many use this information super highway to locate a source to back up their own version of truth. If you search enough you will locate a like mind. We also tend to forget that more than one person can be wrong simultaneously on the same issue. Yes, you can hitch your horse to the wrong wagon ! I know because I have been guilty of just that. It does require additional effort to understand the underlying principle of operation. Whether that operation is mechanical or conjectural in nature makes little difference.
I suppose you could say information is replacing common sense far too often. I'm thinking that we need to allow our children to exercise their common sense to a far greater degree. I hear complaints about the children spending far too much time playing video games and texting or whatever on their phones and I couldn't agree more. As a child I was, of necessity, forced to use my imagination to a much greater degree than many children today. I also had to know how to repair things because they weren't getting replaced. In order to repair them I did have to acquire the basic principle upon which they operated. It was all information. Information is a wonderful thing and the application of that information is what is of primary importance. Could be we need to develop a way of changing this from the information age to the application age. Funny when you think about it isn't it ? Was a day when common sense and the application of that common sense was what drove mankind forward. Now it seems we have far too much information and no means to apply it. Well I'm certain we will develop an " app " for that.
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