Make Information Choices

You can become your own information switchboard. Turn off your information receptors for several hours each day. Do not let new information invade your being if it doesn't promise immediate benefits to you, your family, your community, or any area of your life -- especially if
it comes after hours.

Choose to acquire knowledge that supports or interests you, not that you happen to ingest, or think you have to ingest.

Information Without End

The volume of new knowledge published in every field is enormous and exceeds anyone's ability to keep pace. Everyone today fears that they are under-informed.
* In its 50th year, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. added more than 950,000 items to its collections!
* Even the English language keeps expanding. Since 1966, the English language has gained more than 66,000 words -- equal to half or more of most other languages.

Your Own Knowledge and Wisdom

When you draw upon your own accumulated knowledge and the wisdom that you develop, you're able to intermittently free yourself from ever accelerating flows of information.

Unscientific Americans

From a National Science Foundation's biennial report on the state of science understanding, research, and education, of 1,574 adults surveyed:

* 54% knew long it takes the Earth to orbit the sun. In other words, 46% did not know.
* 51% knew that antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses.
* 48% knew that the earliest humans didn't live at the same time as the dinosaurs. So, an astounding 52% did not know.

What kind of information are Americans likely to know? The name of Tom Cruise’s baby and who Brad Pitt was married to before Angelina Joli… makes me weep for the state of our collective intelligence.

What Info they ARE taking in?

Makes you wonder what information they are taking in:

American's Understanding of Science: From the National Science Foundation's biennial report issued on April 30, 2002 on the state of science understanding, research, and education, of 1,574 adults surveyed:

* 60% agreed or strongly agreed that some people possess psychic powers or extrasensory perception, a premise yet unproven.

* 30% believe that some reported objects are vehicles from other civilizations.

* 43% read the astrology charts at least occasionally in the newspaper.

Also:

* 54% knew long it takes the Earth to orbit the sun. (One year.)

* 45% knew that lasers work by focusing light.

* 51% knew that antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses.

* 48% knew that the earliest humans didn't live at the same time as the dinosaurs.