Information Economy And Its Dark Side

It's the Information Age. Information is so valuable, so priceless, that it's easy to neglect to appreciate just how miraculous it really is. Information is one of the most valuable commodities in modern day, so much so that it's no surprise, that this has given rise to an information economy, but despite the tremendous benefits of this new economy, we're seeing a trend of information overload and some dark sides.

There are so many articles, blogs, videos, webinars, social media feeds, and podcasts packed with information. So much information, in fact, that it's hard to know where to start. I've always been of the opinion, that information overload is overblown. I was wrong. The current neurotic state of information overload is nothing short of reality.

In the current era of the internet, the lines between consumers and producer of information have been blurred. With parallel realities of information growing in both our personal and professional lives, the information economy is evolving into a complex ecosystem with a continuously shifting landscape. We're drowning in data, so much data, in fact, that it's often difficult to know what is actual information and what is opinion or marketing hype.

The Information Technology Revolution

In this day and age, information is power. Power to the people. The age of information has truly begun. The information age is often touted as the most technologically advanced era in human history. It's no exaggeration to say, that the information revolution has made human history entirely different, than it was just a hundred years ago.

In a time, when information is power, and power is a necessity, information has become a necessity. It's as simple as that. Without the knowledge of how things work, we are at the mercy of those, who control the tools we use. Without the tools to do our own research, we are at the mercy of those, who funded the studies, that provided the information we use.

With the tools at our disposal, we can create. We can innovate. We can do things, that we never could have imagined. But the power of information and the technological innovations, that accompany it, also give us a lot of power, a lot of responsibility and a lot of fear.

Definition Of Information Economy

The way in which we produce and consume information is central to the human experience. In a time when people are hungry for knowledge and looking for answers to the fundamental questions of life, information is at the center of our attention. And so, we have created an information economy. This was inevitable. Information is, as they say, the new oil.

What this means practically is that there is a market for every conceivable type of information. Education, for example, can be sold. Data can be sold. Software can be sold. Services can be sold. Anything and everything can be sold, if you have the market and this market needs to be navigated in order to lead us towards a desirable future.

Now, we have to be wary of the false promises of the information age. We have to be wary of the internet, which has created whole new markets overnight, but this doesn't mean we as consumers have to be duped.

The Value Of Information

Information has the tendency to be extremely over-inflated. It's the rare commodity, that can always be obtained. The value of information is always in question. But, this doesn't mean it has no value. Every piece of information has a value. The value is determined by the effort put into acquiring it. The value is also determined by the scarcity of the information. In other words, the more scarce the information is, the higher its value. Value is a tricky thing, though. It's hard to put a price tag on something, that doesn't exist. But, we can put a value on it based on what we would be willing to pay for it. This is called an exchange value. This is how the market works. You give something for something else.

Information As A Commodity

Information is a commodity. Information has value, and that value can be bartered for. This is a fairly simple concept to grasp. A commodity is a thing, that has a use. There is a demand for the thing, a supply, and a price. It's as simple as that. In our modern age, information is a commodity. The demand for any kind of information is always there. The supply is always growing, as information is a decentralized phenomenon, that exists in a non-physical format. Information is never scarce, only scarce knowledge is scarce. Information is a renewable resource. It's only when we as humans close our eyes to the truth, that information becomes scarce.

Now, the price of information is determined by what we as consumers are willing to pay for it. In a free market, the information should be valued based on how useful the information is. In other words, information that helps us to prosper should be valued. Information, that profits those who produce it, regardless of whether or not it benefits the consumer, should be valued.

But there are dark sides to this system. There are forces at work, lobbying groups, and other such things, that are trying to skew the market. Some of these forces are interested in limiting the amount of useful information available to the public. Some of these forces are interested in making sure, that certain types of information remain profitable to those who produce them. The worst of these forces, in my opinion, are the marketing groups, that get paid to create demand for certain types of information.

The Dark Side Of The Information Channels

The information age has given us a lot of tools. We have more access to information, than anything else. We have the means to use that information to improve our lives. On the other hand though, certain information is the property of an elite few, who control the communication channels. They decide what we hear and what we are not allowed to hear. They decide what information we see and what information we are not allowed to see. They determine what we know and what we are ignorant of. This is where it gets really scary. They determine what we believe and what we are allowed to believe. They determine whether we are allowed to think or not.

The communication channels are what allow us to have access to the vast amounts of information, that we have at our disposal. Without the channels, we are limited to the amount of information, that the powerful allow us to have. We are limited to the information, that is provided to us and that is a very serious limitation indeed. This is the system, that we live under. This is the system, that we have to challenge, change and fight against.

You see, there is only so much information, that powerful people are willing to part with. Only so much knowledge, that they are willing to impart. What falls outside of this range is considered to be dangerous and subversive. It is believed, that giving people access to too much information will lead to chaos, disorder and ultimately the end of civilization as we know it.

This is a very real and very serious possibility. But it's not the only possibility. There are other ways to look at the risks posed by too much information and the technologies, that are used to create and maintain that information. The risks posed by information should be evaluated in terms of how useful and necessary it is, how accessible it is and how it can be used to good effect.