Mistaking Facts for Information
We are drowning in information in this age of instant access. I am not going to under rate Ai as it is a wonderful time saver when you need instant information. However this ease of access of information is not about acquiring knowledge.
Information is facts. It is headlines (if you believe the media!) or it is numbers. It is a recipe, or statistics, or a tutorial. However knowledge is more about the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ and being able to apply insight in order to adapt information to a different context. Knowledge transforms information into something useful or meaningful.
The new digital era has transformed how we learn, how we communicate, and how we see the world. But many of us have begun to confuse information with knowledge, and knowledge ultimately can enable wisdom.
Facts alone do not constitute understanding – they are nothing more than the raw ingredients. We can recite information, but does that help us to have the insight to apply those facts, so that they are meaningful to life? Do we even to grasp the implications of those facts, like say ‘global warming’?
We mistake access to ‘expertise’ when we press a computer key, but that does not constitute understanding. We save tutorials, or videos, or blog posts, believing we’ve learned something, but unless we have tested it, or adapted it to our own needs, or learned enough to teach it, it remains valueless.
This is especially true in our creative community. We might gather dozens of polymer clay tips but real knowledge comes with experimenting, failing and refining. It’s not just knowing what works, it’s knowing why it works, and when to break the rules. We can become overconfident assuming we understand because we have watched, say, a tutorial. But true knowledge acknowledges gaps, invites questions and evolves with practical experience.
If developing understanding and observing wisdom appeals to you then books might be your answer.
Recently I have been reading what is marketed as a crime series written by Louise Penny. These books are more about insight into humans than they are about crime. They highlight the wisdom that can be found in books. Like so many books have over the centuries, they observe human behaviour through insights that have endured over the centuries. Observations on life are not new. for generations books have contained distillations of human experience. If you think we are more intelligent than our predecessors, books will remind you that people have always acquired wisdom.
I am not dismissing facts. They are crucial. But facts without context can be dangerous for they are too often manipulative. Knowing how to discern truth from noise, or information from spectacle, is a skill that books can teach us. Reading books that challenge us (say with alternative beliefs than our own) force our minds to deal with complexity and ambiguity. That is where real learning begins.
Learn to think critically – be it through reading or through persevering with the development of your art- so we can overcome the overload of information that can and will swamp us if we don’t.