Back in the days, information was scarce. It took a long time for information to travel from its source to its consumers. Over time we have seen technological breakthroughs, starting from the print press and moving on to digital media to the internet and social media. With these advancements our ability to access information has increased. Information travels much faster and the number of sources available has become abundant.
However, it has also become increasingly difficult to verify the sources of information. It has become much cheaper to create content and to publish it to the outside world. Therefore, anyone with any intention can find innovative ways to publish their content in a convincing manner. As a result, it is much harder to be certain that the information you are consuming is in fact the whole truth and in fact the perspective you are looking for.
For this reason, we are now in an era where people are starting to diverge to "content groups" based on the concentration of specific sources aligned with a particular view of the world. While you will always have people who crossover between varying sources of information, the majority of people will stick to a set of sources that align with their education, background and experiences. So Instead of the free flow of information bringing us closer together, it is actually creating a wider reap and division between groups. This will deepen gaps between geographical areas, ethnic groups, languages and more.
This will eventually result in an increase in the diversity of perspectives, culture and behavior across the globe. However, while there are negative consequences in diversity, there are also benefits. One major advantage is the fact that with diversity comes strength. More perspectives means more and varied ideas and approaches to solve problems and innovate.
We must therefore challenge ourselves to firstly recognize that this pattern in the evolution of information commodity is a reality. Secondly we should find ways to use this phenomenon to help us maximize the return of our goals and objectives. You only need to look at recent politics in the U.S. to realize how politicians and corporations use this to their advantage.
The other question remaining is: where will this lead us? Are we going to see more diversity and more drift between groups in human society? Are we going to see a deliberate growth in diversity with an underline common set of core values?
How we respond to this change will drive and determine the evolution of mankind. There is little that an individual or a small group can do to control this. However, as a society as a whole, we can and should develop a global data governance framework that will look at data holistically across all domains and across all social and economic activity. This framework will enable us to drive this diversity to ensure a common set of values are protected. These core shared values will help support the ultimate goal of sustainability and evolution of our specie. Otherwise, we are basically taking a potentially irreversible chance with the future of mankind.
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