overload

"Another insidious effect of information overload, closely related to quality dilution, is informational confusion. As outlined in David Shenk's book, Data Smog, people now have at their fingertips an oversupply of statistics, expert opinions, and widely circulated but simplified stories with which to interpret the world. Nothing is muffled and context is vaporized. As Shenk relates:

The proliferation of expert opinion has ushered in a virtual anarchy of expertise. To follow the news today is to have the surreal understanding that the earth is melting and the earth is cooling; that nuclear power is safe and nuclear power is not safe; that affirmative action works--or wait, no it doesn't.

Or a big later in Data Smog:

Since nearly any argument imaginable can now be supported with an impressive data set, the big winner is...argumentation itself...Factionalism gets a big boost from volleys of data, while dialogue and consensus--the marrow of democracy--run thinner and thinner.

Perhaps this is the best point to lob in Einstein's aphorism, 'Information is not knowledge." The point to extrapolate from Shenk's analysis is that the information explosion is not leading to better critical and creative thinking; it is largely being used to spout off, preach, or confirm existing biases and flawed thinking."

-Michael R LeGault, Th!nk