[PDF] Complexity and Information Overload in Society: why increasing efficiency leads to decreasing control : x-post /r/enhance

I disagree. Technology is only starting to catch up to my brain's ability to process the information. For the longest time, I would get frustrated due to the inefficiencies of the tools I had. Driving to a library, looking through a box full of cards using the Dewey Decimal system, then tracking down the aisle to find a book that needs to then be further examined to get the information you want?!?

AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!

Now I am finally starting to be able to acquire information at the speed that my brain wants to. Computers are finally going fast enough to not annoy me with their lag. Information is finally becoming freely accessible to everyone. It's not information overload. It's finally an acceptable level of information load!

Can this increase in efficiency adversely affect some people, possibly leading to lack of control? I'm sure it can. However, people are all different, and people are resilient. They will change and adapt. Not everyone is being overwhelmed by the increase in efficiency. Some of us are finally not burdened by stagnation of information acquisition. My brain was built to have a ton of information thrown at it, then selectively discard the unnecessary information, allowing for complex syntheses of new ideas. I say bring it on!

>Most fundamentally, these
are caused by the increasing reach and complexity of
causal
networks, making prediction and control ever more difficult. More concretely,
they boil down to the increasing difficulty of making decisions, that is, selecting
a subset
of
options from a much larger set of opportunities for action or potentially relevant
pieces of information.

Not for me. The more information, even seemingly useless, the better my brain is at making connections and finding causal relationships. It's what I am good at.

>On the
level of society this produces stress and alienation, instability, problems
snowballing out of control, and an overall economic growth much
lower than what could
be expected from the increased efficiency
of individual processes. Since
ephemeralization cannot be stopped, it is clear
that these problems will only worsen,
unless
fundamental solutions are introduced.

I think they are making incorrect assumptions about the ability of the human mind to adapt and grow. They are also treating society as a machine, which it most certainly is not. I like the way they think on a lot of the issues, but they apply those ideas in an almost pessimistic manner. Of course advancements sometimes have drawbacks. However, those drawbacks can then be turned into new opportunities for further growth. Perhaps I am not like other people in my outlook on this issue, but I am excited about the present, and our future. I am finally getting the opportunity to use my brain in a way that fulfills me. I finally have the ability to challenge it in a manner in which is sustainable to me. I think they should look at the "data smog" that they are referring to as an opportunity. This is a naturally progressing system. One which mimics our own thoughts and reasoning. Studying the causes and outcomes of that system can be used to gain insight on other seemingly unrelated systems. One just has to look at it from a different perspective. Where they see useless information cluttering the good, I see possible connections that would have never been seen.