/facts or knowledge provided or learned/computer data/

Let us have a little word play before we launch our assault on the word dealt with presently. On a closer look the word information seems to take its construction from two words brought together as: In + Formation whereby

• In (is defined as)– so as to be enclosed, surrounded, or inside
• Formation (is defined as)– the action of forming or process of being formed; 2^nd take – the process of being formed

The first word is predictably straight forward; it’s the second part of this word that’s quite interesting…the action of forming or of being formed and so on following our second bullet above. Doubly, for the complete construction of the word in question information proper I have included ‘computer data’ to embrace the fact that as much as computers needs information fed into them by engineers to enable then to carry out tasks so it has come to surface on humanity itself. To carry out decision making we need to organised facts together logically. We are the matrix of the computers though they are highly evolved as far as processing terabytes-gazillions of information is concerned.

What is it that we do when we are faced with a situation whereby we are suppose to make a decision that could be life changing? Even those who are wet behind the ears will acknowledge that one has to assess their situation, their stand point; indeed one need to be savvy of where they are in relation to the decision that must be made. Without reverting foolhardy to choice which we have dealt with previously, a decision lies somewhere between where you stand and the choice.

You find your self in a situation where you are buying a product. Let us take margarine as an example. We will have to hack back to the ¹superstore scenario. However we will fashion you as an adult with age not being the centre point of our rhetoric.

(zooooooooooooooosh!)

When you arrive at the superstore you pass all the departments that are on offer i.e. drinks, meats, snacks, toiletries etc. until you slam your heels at the spreads. Though cooking oils might be not far away here, it is out of the question, you will be faced with arrays and arrays of margarines. Even so you will narrow down your search to the product that promises the flavor and the wholesome goodness you are looking for. Should you be an alien on vacation in this constellation this would be your first encounter with the mechanics of choice without foresight – experience proper – sic information. Your slate of experience is clean. All branches of knowledge start here. If your conversant with grit for bread and scones then your laborious task is shortened because you know what you are looking. The key word here is ‘know’, you are guided by your learning after experiencing the product before hand.

Should you in the future develop a dislike to the bar of margarine you have been buying all along you can trace it to this ‘know’ thing, that is how you would’ve arrived at that judgment that something is not quite right anymore with your acquisition. Then you can move on to the myriad of choice again and select the next best thing (guess what?, you will only know that it is the best thing once your experience of it informs your decision that the new bar of margarine is the best). But what will happen if choice is withheld from? Nulled from your fingers? You and the rest of the society you belong to will not have an alternative but to make do with the inevitable base itself which will throw into stark relief who is in control and the nature of their control over what you ought to know and what you shouldn’t know.

Now in a world where more and more information is being dispensed and processed through cyber highways one can only imagine what the next upheaval will be about – Information, and the right to it. In a world of a myriad of offers and choices our judgment of what goes for us leans primarily on how well informed we are. Should the way we consume information be impaired, a parallax would occur where our decision making will be impaired. The superstore scenario purports that we will retire from the store with tons of useless stuff if not one.

Notes

1. A superstore scenario take its root when on is faced with a myriad of choices, however they have to narrow their choice to one at a time for a particular period until that choice is exhausted

10 June

Winter

Mmutle Arthur Kgokong © 2011

mmutleak@gmail.com

We shall make a u turn at a certain point below to bring the argument full circle, for now let us take an excursion.

Keep in step while as the jots elucidate my point.