We Can Change Our Programming!
50. Information and Knowledge
Our culture is busily engaged with information and knowledge, which are worthy focuses of attention.
Information is facts and experiential nuggets. What happened, where and when, who was involved, how, what were the outcomes and consequences, why did it happen, and why is it worthwhile to know? We tend to value most information from academic, technical and scientific domains. What was objectively and externally observed that can be verified? To be useful, information must be accurate. We gather and share information in order to be able to individually and collectively develop and advance knowledge far faster and more efficiently than anyone could alone.
Knowledge in our culture is largely aggregated information, especially in forms of data which can be mathematically analyzed, and the rational and logical constructions we build with it. What does this information represent, and what can we conclude from it? What is relevant and important, how does it fit together, what kinds of conditional relationships exist within it (when this happens, that follows), what do we learn and what can we conclude from that, and how can that be useful or applied?
By sharing information and knowledge, we develop beyond what we experience and know individually to what we experience and know collectively. That sharing benefits all, because we’re not stuck figuring it all out personally and having what we learn die with us. We can build knowledge and abilities on information collected across the portfolio of human experience, and we can share that knowledge and its benefits across the broader community of all we can reach with that knowledge and its applications. So, we create, learn, grow and advance far more rapidly and far beyond what we could in isolation.
That mechanism is truly one of the great marvels of humanity, which provides great advantages in our evolution. Information and knowledge collection, development and sharing are important and valuable. Without that, we might still be little advanced beyond tribes of apes. It sets us apart from other species. The more useful information and knowledge we collect, develop, share and integrate, the faster we grow and evolve. This mechanism is one of our great keys to success, now and in the future.
Knowing that, it’s fascinating to observe us hoarding, exploiting and manipulating information and knowledge, and their sharing, for personal advantage over others. We keep information and knowledge private, to avoid exploitation by others, and to exploit it for power and wealth. We also sabotage the information and knowledge of others, to manipulate, take advantage of and outcompete others.
We may not want to share our information, knowledge and experience with others, because of bad experience having it used against us. We don’t want our information used to shove ads into our heads, be attacked by those who consider us rivals, or enable others to commit crimes and offenses against us. That creates a perfectly understandable value of privacy, because of the bad energy and uses others can make from our information and knowledge, and the harms we or others may suffer.
Some of us collect, develop and create applications for information and knowledge and keep that private, as legally defendable intellectual property, so we can apply that information and knowledge somehow to create advantages over others, and exploit that for wealth and power relative to others. We own information and knowledge and make proprietary uses of it, so we can acquire and accumulate more money and power than they have. We compete to win over others, by controlling and using information and knowledge, rather than sharing information and knowledge so we all win.
Some of us actively try to mess up, discredit, change and subvert the information and knowledge of others in order to disable, disempower and manipulate us, an ugly practice. We try to get others to accept false information and knowledge, disinformation and dis-knowledge, to confuse and derail us, essentially to lead us astray. We promote fatuous battles of loud, uninformed or manipulative opinions, rather than honestly and to the best of our abilities sharing the best information and knowledge we can, for the benefit of all. We create, disseminate and promote false news. We encourage doubt of others. We lie. We disparage others to discredit their information and knowledge. And, all to disadvantage some of us relative to others, cheat others, harm others, gain power and wealth. Yuck.
All of these practices limit availability of accurate and valuable information and knowledge we could be using to further grow and advance us and our collective community. Without that information and knowledge, we are slowed in creating new information and knowledge and their uses that could benefit us and help us improve. These behaviors slow and inhibit our collective evolution.
To correct or reduce this inhibition and retardation of our collective evolution, we need to change our behaviors in sharing and using information and knowledge against others or for the relative advantage of some over others. We are all us. Let’s develop our information and knowledge for the benefit of all, and let’s apply and share our information and knowledge for the benefit of all, as our natural commons. If and when we do that, we are stepping on the gas pedal of human understanding, development, growth and evolution. That allows us to improve our performance as a species, and as life.
Let’s share information, knowledge and experiences freely, so we can all be well-educated and skilled, so we are all empowered to fully participate in and contribute to life and social systems!
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