The Raccoon's Nest

27th of March, 2011 @ 11:30 _

futuramb:

It is easy to blame the educational system and not without reason. But what is usually forgotten in this discussion is how the connected society influence our minds.
What we experience today is a dramatic imbalance between the amount of data available and the human capacity to manage it. When a human have too little information, which have been the case for most of the time our species have wandered the earth, the human brain excels in filling on the blanks by possible or likely fragments from our memory and/or fantasy. In effect we then produce myths or stories we use as tools of encoded knowledge, which help us manage a certain situation as well as pass knowledge on the future generations. When new information contradicts the current story, we adjust it to reflect the world in a better way.
The interesting thing is that when we have to much available information we seems to weave even more stories. The reason now is that the brain still don’t have a chance to find the right information because of the difficulty to sort and analyze. On the other hand we have a lot of data and information to put together in order to create a feasible story. The increasing amount of conspiracy theories are a clear indication of this.
Together with increased information and decision stress, individualization and boosted self confidence that comes from a self centered and reflexive perspective due to the media age, we think we know a lot when in fact we know less. We are fooled by the shallow acquaintance we constantly gather about a lot of things.
The clear but counter intuitive consequence of the connected society seems to be that we rely more and more on our own quick judgment of everything all the time. And if we start doing this at an increasingly early age, we don’t have time to fill the brains with basic knowledge and thinking capabilities.
The question we should ask about the education system is rather how any system of learning could balance this increasing effect. I use to call it the Megatrend of Truthiness - the kind of truths which you feel in your stomach and not by looking it up in a book.

Sometimes I want to leave this country…

It is easy to blame the educational system and not without reason. But what is usually forgotten in this discussion is how the connected society influence our minds.

What we experience today is a dramatic imbalance between the amount of data available and the human capacity to manage it. When a human have too little information, which have been the case for most of the time our species have wandered the earth, the human brain excels in filling on the blanks by possible or likely fragments from our memory and/or fantasy. In effect we then produce myths or stories we use as tools of encoded knowledge, which help us manage a certain situation as well as pass knowledge on the future generations. When new information contradicts the current story, we adjust it to reflect the world in a better way.

The interesting thing is that when we have to much available information we seems to weave even more stories. The reason now is that the brain still don’t have a chance to find the right information because of the difficulty to sort and analyze. On the other hand we have a lot of data and information to put together in order to create a feasible story. The increasing amount of conspiracy theories are a clear indication of this.

Together with increased information and decision stress, individualization and boosted self confidence that comes from a self centered and reflexive perspective due to the media age, we think we know a lot when in fact we know less. We are fooled by the shallow acquaintance we constantly gather about a lot of things.

The clear but counter intuitive consequence of the connected society seems to be that we rely more and more on our own quick judgment of everything all the time. And if we start doing this at an increasingly early age, we don’t have time to fill the brains with basic knowledge and thinking capabilities.

The question we should ask about the education system is rather how any system of learning could balance this increasing effect. I use to call it the Megatrend of Truthiness - the kind of truths which you feel in your stomach and not by looking it up in a book.

Sometimes I want to leave this country…