Useless Information

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) wrote "It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information."

Oscar Wilde clearly knew nothing of the internet, nor of modern media. Perhaps in the late 19th Century newspapers were rare or contained invaluable information. I suppose without much knowledge of the time I would have to assume that at the time there was not a great deal of "useless infofrmation".

Cetainly in todays world there is an incredible overabundance of completely useless information. Our newspapers are filled with it, magazine thrive on it, the internet is overrun by it, and foolish people continue to propagate it. I think there is little doubt that Oscar Wildes assertion that there is so little useless information no longer applies evern by the greatest stretch of the imagination. The question remains however, whether or not it was a sad thing that there was so little useless information at the time, and whether conversely it is a happy thing that we have so much crap information constantly bombarding us.

Using some imagination I suppose that if your wolrdview was such that you thought it important to keep the majority of people frivolously occupied but never achieving much in their lives, then this sentiment might be true. True for you at least. Whether it is true that it is a good thing for the people who are so occupied remains debatable. At a stretch, the few people that desire to be blissfully unaware of things that don't interest them or make them happy, might fit this category. The character in The Matrix who chooses the blue pill over the red pill would be such a person. They wish to remain ignorantly unaware of the real truth as long as they don't have to suffer or feel any pain. Effectively anaesthetised against reality, they float around in relative bliss and ignorance.

The abundance of useless information makes this process a bearable one. In fact, without a great deal of useless information, and an attitude to avoid harsh truth, one can only be left in total boredom. So for the person who wishes to manipulate the masses into a false sense of security and importance, it is important to ensure that there is a great deal of superfluous, frivolous, and ridiculous information readily available to placate them.

On the other hand, for the people who actually wish to know the truth, who would choose the red pill, and who desire to lead a life of improvement and vitality and reality, such a scenario can be distracting and inhibiting. To always be seeking truth and constantly wading through guff and fluff can be extremely tiring. To be overwhelmed by massive amounts of irrelevant information can take us off task, diverting our attention and make us forget the real purpose of our lives. As we allow this useless information into our lives we slowly begin to lose feeling just like the anaesthetic does to our nerves. The spell overwhelms us slowly and bit by bit until we no longer realise that we have lost our dreams.

It takes a disciplined person to consciously choose useful and relevant information into our lives while blocking out all of the useless and irrelevant information. However there is another problem at hand and that is; how does one determine what is useless and irrelevant in order to discard it before it affects us. I suspect it is a little bit like the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It states that in measuring the location of a particle, its momentum is not able to be determined and that measuring the momentum of a particle precudes the ability to know its position. In short, the particles position or momentum is affected by the act of measuring it such that the measurement cannot be fully known. The reason I use this analogy is that the absorption of the irrelevant information affects our ability to determine is usefulness and in small ways we are unable to be completely unaffected by what we see or hear. Slowly and inadvertantly the garbage changes us and our thinking. It is only small at first but it is progressive and accumulative. Eventually we find ourselves in a place where we never intended to go, and we have no real way of knowing where we would be if we had excercised restraint because our perceptions have been altered. It is a little bit like taking a psychedelic drug in order to see if is good for me. Observers might say that my behaviour deteriorated and that the effects were detrimental, yet in my altered state of mind I might be oblivious to any negative effects due to temporary euphoria. If the drug killed me then the observer could easily say that it was not good for me, however it would leave me in a very difficult position to observe this or even hear it conveyed to me. It would in fact be too late for me to decide or hear anything from others. Suicide is the ultimate irreversible extrapolation of all the stupid experiments that young people might try to see if it is good for them. The hope that suicide might solve all ones problems has no benefit when the act itself is irreversible. You cannot try before you buy. If it is, in fact, not the answer to my problems but actually the biggest addition to them ever concieved, then I would truly be totally lost and forsaken. Getting back to the drug analogy, what neither myself nor the observer could say was how the drug chemically affected me and what the long term effects might be assuming I survived. It would take a biologist or an expert in drugs to know this superior information. If I had consulted such a person before taking the drug, then I would be in a much better position to reject the drug without the need to try it, and of course I would save myself a lot of heartache in the process. Drug rehabilitation is not a pleasant process I am told.

So the issue is this. If taking in the information affects my ability to determine its usefulness than how does one decide what to accept and what to reject unequivocally. The answer lies in accepting expert, outside help. Superior knowledge can prevent us from being overwhelmed by useless information. The expert in the field can guide us before we make mistakes. It is always harder to learn from and rehabilitate out of the foolish decisions we make. Abstinence is superior and less painful. There is no greater expert in anything in this world than the one who created it all. Take advice from Gods word.

Phil 4:8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Conversely whatever is in opposition to these things you should reject.

1 Cor 3:5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

I believe very strongly in the garbage in, garbage out philosophy. It is quite a proven phenomenon throughout observable history. Unfortunately when one absorbs a great deal of garbage or useless information, then their lives will be filled with useless talk and useless actions. A life like this will in short be a useless life, and a tragic result of what could have been an exciting, vibrant, productive life.

For whatever reason, Oscar Wilde pined that it was a sad thing that there was so little useless information. Unlike Oscar Wilde, I think that it is a very very sad thing that we now have so much useless information.