Jun 7, 20201 min read

The Information Paradox

I came across this book recently, Amusing ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman. In the book, he compared the ideologies of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley (in their books 1987 and Brave New World, respectively). He concluded that Huxley was right about the dystopian future he predicted. To quote a few lines from his book –

‘What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.’

And I think this is the paradox. We are surrounded by hoards of information from all over – the Internet, social media, peers, everywhere. It is called the information age, after all. There is too much information for us to handle and identify the correct one from the wrong one. Sometimes the voice of truth is muted in chaos. Psychologists use the term ‘intoxication’ to describe wherein too much information affects our decision-making and thinking ability. I took this idea forward and created artwork.