Fri 20 Oct 2006
Do you love, without a doubt, living in the Information age? Or do you wonder of its dangers, like if we have lost connection with our inherent wisdom in favor of having a glorious array of facts and opinions at our fingertips that may or may not be applicable to a given problem?
I think I may have inadvertently stumbled when I rambled:
“I know what things are made of. How be healthy. How to feel free. All this knowledge is out there. What a privilege, to be taught to fish rather than fed!”
But what of this…
“We can certainly access a lot more information, but we don’t necessarily have more wisdom.”
Touche. But if not ourselves, who can we trust to provide the wisdom? To use the popular example of healthcare, in the US drug companies over-diagnose diseases like ADHD while advertising their ‘cures’ directly to consumers. Meanwhile doctors poo-poo self-diagnosis because otherwise what did they spend 4 years in med school, 4 years in residency, and upwards of $300K for anyway?! The information is not hidden, but agendas sometimes are. In the age of information, is cynicism the new wisdom?
October 21st, 2006 at 11:47 am
Hello, read this post thought it was a good topic.
I think that wisdom comes with the choices we make and what we learn from them. What the information age has brought (for some, not all) is a greater array of choices to make. A person can still choose to smoke (for example) or not to, however now he/she will be aware that there are documented, persistant and predictable consequences to his/her actions. For the medical doctors out there there is specialized knowledge backed with know-how and most of all experience to base claims on a person’s health. None of them are infaillible but they offer you options to take better care of your body/mind. ADHD and other mental health problems are also well documented and fall under strict observance of measurable symptoms. If you look at the history of mental health you see that ADHD and other disease went under the radar as “demonic possessions” and that sort of thing. At least now, seeing it as a disease provides alternatives for a person living with it. That he/she can lead a life with a greater number of choices available because there is help available.
October 22nd, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Looks like I’ve got a reader after all! Gives me reason to be more accurate, clear, sensitive, and might I say wise than I was in last post. Thanks for the perspective. The choice to use ADHD as an example came from reports I had witnessed of misdiagnosis and the overuse of drugs to make young children fit in with their peers. Diseases aren’t truly “manufactured” so much as they are now NAMED. What I wonder of is the synchronous occurence of the ABILITY to name, the DRUGS to treat, and the preponderence of CASES of so many diseases. It is a function of the information (which I don’t fault) - what we know seems to exist more prevalently now than before we knew. I don’t doubt that any of it is real or meant to be - it is here, and it is what it is. You’re exactly right - we have choices. The difference is before there may have been NO choices. And now there is no choice but to choose! The reason this all came to mind at all is that I’m having an internal struggle of making a choice between heading down the route of healthcare as a physician or natural healer, or to continue on the path I’ve begun as a musician. It’s been fascinating what I discover while weighing this decision. For example, the more I learn about preventative medicine, the more I am appreciative of the knowledge that science and the information age has brought. At the same time, what is learned, though profound in research, is so simple in application; the “right” choices seem to be ones I could have found anyway through routes of intuition: moderation, balance, listening to one’s body. And so, in this instance and others, it appears the information age may be actually REINFORCING what we feel - a pleasant surprise! Science and intuition are still in accord. That seems amazing only because we have advanced so far, but it shouldn’t be for they have always been.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:03 pm
I think US drug companies are great. They provide me with a legal way to avoid thinking about my problems and insecurities, without an unpleasant aftertaste. And if it wasn’t for my job in the product testing department of Generic Drug Company X, I wouldn’t be able to appreciate all the benefits of legitimate prescription drugs, or these interesting shingles on my eyes. Talk about the wonderous Information Age; all of my favorite medications are only a mouse-click away at rock-bottom prices thanks to the internet, and my favorite Cambodian doctor. If it wasn’t drug companies sending their attractive representatives to entice my doctor into convincing me that my bordom was in fact ADHD, and that I needed to take a minimum of 11 different medications, I’d never be able to concentrate on how much my life sucks. Which reminds me to take more medication. If only they had some medication for this fucking Tourette’s, shit queer ass.
P.S. Best Drums!
April 13th, 2008 at 8:15 am
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article le, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.