In the past, we collected information not simply to know things. That was only the beginning. We also collected information to convert it into something larger than facts and ultimately more useful — into ideas that made sense of the information. We sought not just to apprehend the world but to truly comprehend it, which is the primary function of ideas. Great ideas explain the world and one another to us.
If it is, is it because:
- We have too much of information?
- It is easy to get to information without discovering it and thinking about it?
- The path to information forced us to think and made us discover other things ( the story of Chemistry for example)
- We are struggling to cope with all kinds of information and don’t really have time to think?
- Our thinking is influenced so much by information that our ideas though extremely useful, are incremental ?
No matter what the reason is, I think this observation is very true:
In effect, we are living in a world in which big, thought-provoking ideas that can’t instantly be monetized are of so little intrinsic value …
A note of warning, though. There are quite a few antiquated ideas in this article and I don’t think I agree with everything in it.