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Is The Information Age
Making Us Any Wiser?
Institutions and individuals alike are coping with a deluge of books, journals, tapes, legal records, documents, electronic mail and torrents of raw data. The Library of Congress has 113 million items, and every morning 20,000 more pour into the loading dock. Every day, James Billington, the librarian of Congress, worries about issues such as shelving and preservation, but he also worries about broader philosophical matters, such as: Are we truly wiser with all this information? In 1472 the library at Queens' College in Cambridge, England, had 199 books. At the height of the Renaissance there were people who could claim plausibly to have read every important book ever written. Today, no one can read everything. The world of knowledge is a vast ocean; the best you can do is occasionally go for a swim. More than 50,000 books are published every year in America alone. The number of journals published globally is estimated at 400,000. Soon every home will have access to hundreds of television channels. The worldwide Web now has millions of sites. "It's significant that we call it the Information Age," Mr. Billington said. "We don't talk about the Knowledge Age." Mr. Billington subscribes to a formula: Raw data can be turned into information, which then, through much added effort and value, can rise to the level of knowledge, which is the foundation for wisdom. But he says that in this era of data overload, we may be going in the wrong direction. "Our society is basically motion without memory," Mr. Billington said. "Which, of course, is one of the clinical definitions of insanity."
[end]
(Commentary:) The world is going insane because more and more people, especially in the West, are sometimes thoughtlessly embracing modern knowledge without at the same time retaining the wisdom of the past. They are forsaking righteousness, civility, godliness, love, concern, and care for their neighbor in their attempts to shape a "brave new world" based on technology. There's nothing wrong with technology if it's used to the right ends, but when society is based only on technology and knowledge rather than godliness and God's wisdom, then the foundation of that society is built on sand. No matter how nice the resulting building looks, it won't last. Only those who've built their house on the rock Christ Jesus will endure (Matthew 7:24-27).
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