There is something about knowledge, the more you know, the more you realise how little you know, the more you want to know more.
The need to know is ever rising and with the advent of the internet, a lot of information is shoved in our faces every time we go online. Everyone has an opinion. On a particular topic you can find as much different opinions as possible, some with valid convincing points.
But that’s not all.
The influx of information that can be considered irrelevant to our existence is even more in our faces and readily available more than the useful ones.
If useful information is gold, then useless information can be likened to pyrite.
Pyrite is a mineral popularly called fool’s gold because of its resemblance to the real gold…but of course it’s not the same.
Why can information be fool’s gold?
When we get information, it is for the essence of being informed, and if there is one thing that’s important in this present time, it is to be informed.
If you aren’t, just forget it. You might as well become a hermit that lives under a rock away from civilisation and anything modern. Because with technology, the world is advancing at an exponential rate and some of what we knew a few years ago and how we saw the world and the limits we thought we couldn’t go past are long outdated and surpassed now.
The world is changing very fast. Last year scientists grew a lamb in an artificial womb, CRISPR, a gene editing tool was used to fix a genetic defect in human embroyos, SpaceX launched the world’s first reusable rocket, and lots of other amazing stuff were done this year, thanks to science and technology. That got me thinking, are there limits we can’t break? Are we not limitless?
(But let’s not digress.)
That’s just the beautiful world we live in now, more people are waking up and realising that all those things we thought couldn’t be done or are the workings of a supernatural being is actually at the tip of our fingers to do as well.
The need to know is what drives most of these discoveries. Curiousity is a powerful tool in this present age.
And that is why information is gold.
Look at cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, etherium, ripple and the likes, how they are likely to take over.
The need to know is becoming the source of wealth.
Stay outdated, stay poor.
But when you connect to the internet you don’t just see these things, you see a lot of other things that are more attractive than reusable rocket, something more rewarding to your brain, something fun. And that’s where most people spend most of their time on the internet. Arguing about which political party is doing what and which isn’t, which religion is the true one, what a celebrity wore out of her house or who someone is dating.
Information is gold but only as long as it is actually useful. What we learn takes up space in our brain. If what I learn is not something that will be beneficial to me in the long run, something that will keep me updated and relevant in this age of exponential growth, then it’s not just about being informed, it’s more about what you’re informed about.
The value of the information your brain accrues may either turn out to be gold…or fool’s gold.
No one wants to carry a dead useless weight for years, treasuring and nurturing them only to find out they are valueless.
This is why there is the need to properly assess the value of the information you garner as you go through your day.
Technology is quickly taking over the labour market and soon we might not need most of our jobs again because a robot can now do them…better than we can. Soon what we know will be what matters, not just what we are trained to do in school.
Be informed if you want to be relevant.
