Comments on: Can Humans Cope with Information Overload? Tyler Cowen & John Freeman Join the Debate

By: The Net, Info Overload, & Our Fragmented Attention Spans

The Net, Info Overload, & Our Fragmented Attention Spans — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:10:41 +0000

[...] Can Humans Cope with Information Overload? Tyler Cowen & John Freeman Join the Debate [...]

By: Coping with Information Overload: Thoughts on Hamlet’s BlackBerry by William Powers

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:44:09 +0000

[...] well as John Freeman, The Tyranny of E-Mail: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox [review here], Powers fears that time for focus and introspection “is lost when your days are spread so [...]

By: Excellent Slate Article on Techno-Panics & Fears of Info Overload

Excellent Slate Article on Techno-Panics & Fears of Info Overload — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:50:57 +0000

[...] touches on many of the themes I’ve discussed here in my essays on techno-panics, fears about information overload, and the broader optimists v. pessimist battle throughout history regarding the impact of new [...]

By: Excellent Slate Article on Techno-Panics & Fears of Info Overload

Excellent Slate Article on Techno-Panics & Fears of Info Overload — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:50:57 +0000

By: Are You An Internet Optimist or Pessimist? The Great Debate over Technology’s Impact on Society — Technology Liberation Front

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:48:51 +0000

[...] Can Humans Cope with Information Overload? Tyler Cowen & John Freeman Join the Debate [...]

By: NOYB

NOYB — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:34:09 +0000

I'm going back to 1994. I turned off my cell phone voicemail, canceled facebook, canceled yahoo, canceled texting on my phone. Bought a landline and $9 white non-cordless phone. Bought a wall calendar. Taped my emergency numbers inside my kitchen cabinet. Yeah Baby! And no I'm not 59, I'm 29!! And I have fun social life and these tools don't really make that happen, rather they are a distraction from having REAL interaction with other humans. I MEAN SERIOUSLY HOW MANY THINGS DO YOU NEED TO “CHECK”?? AHHHH – TOO MANY FOR ME – I DOWNSCALED ALL THE WAY TO 1994.

By: The Progress & Freedom Foundation Blog

The Progress & Freedom Foundation Blog — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:33:55 +0000

Great PBS News Hour Debate @ Impact of the Net & Technology...

Great video here from the PBS News Hour featuring three tech visionaries debating the impact of the Internet and digital technology over the past decade, plus a look forward to the future. It features Jaron Lanier, a computer scientist and......

By: The Digital Decade’s Definitive Reading List: Internet & Info-Tech Policy Books of the 2000’s — Technology Liberation Front

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:23:29 +0000

[...] book of my own on Internet Optimists vs. Pessimists, something I’ve been writing a lot about here in recent [...]

By: The 10 Most Important Info-Tech Policy Books of 2009 — Technology Liberation Front

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:23:27 +0000

[...] I noted in my lengthy essay on the topic earlier this year, Cowen is an unrepentant optimist. He believes humans have the ability to adapt [...]

By: Andrew Bolster

Andrew Bolster — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:47:34 +0000

Great Post! I'm an eternal optimist and I strongly believe that, humans could devise technologies to cope with the information overload issue, pretty soon. Corporate World is now aware of the perils of information overload and web based solutions like Taroby, www.taroby.com which helps to reduce the information overload has become popular.

By: Andrew Bolster

Andrew Bolster — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:47:34 +0000

By: Private Enterprise, Moore’s Law & Accessibility Innovation Are Empowering the Disabled — Technology Liberation Front

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:56:38 +0000

[...] I highly recommend Tyler Cohen’s new book Create Your Own Economy (reviewed by Adam here), which celebrates the Internet as a great emancipating force for the [...]

By: The Progress & Freedom Foundation Blog

The Progress & Freedom Foundation Blog — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:14:38 +0000

review: A Better Pencil by Dennis Baron...

I very much enjoyed Dennis Baron's new book, A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution, and highly recommend you pick it up. Baron does a wonderful job exploring the history of techno-pessimism and the endless battles about the......

By: review: A Better Pencil by Dennis Baron — Technology Liberation Front

review: A Better Pencil by Dennis Baron — Technology Liberation Front — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:02:44 +0000

[...] written about here before in my essays on “Internet optimists vs. pessimists” (See: 1, 2, [...]

By: The Progress & Freedom Foundation Blog

The Progress & Freedom Foundation Blog — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:39:49 +0000

Humbling the Mighty: How the Internet's Media Abundance Killed the News Embargo...

Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles; [The Lord] hath put down the mighty from their seats [of power] and raised up the lowly. - "Magnificat" The Internet continues to humble the mighty in journalism. We hear a lot about......

By: Humbling the Mighty: How the Internet’s Media Abundance Killed the News Embargo — Technology Liberation Front

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:18:52 +0000

[...] embargo” dead. In the days of media scarcity (which the reformistas like Andrew Keen want to re-create), press releases often declared a story to be “embargoed” until a specific day and [...]

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:00:04 +0000

Internet Optimists: 3 yr old internet billionaires & 2 yr old baby entrepreneur in 2012

A film featuring today young entrepreneurs ''The YES Movie''
www.TheYESmovie.com.by Louis Lautman

By: Yahoo! “to Take on Twitter”: Beyond Far-fetched! | Thoughtpick Blog

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:33:01 +0000

[...] Apart from the fact that “Meme seems to lack in its features and in potential to surpass its competitors” and that “the company has a spotty record with Mash and SpotM“, Yahoo! should know better than to try to tap into a cluttered market that is dominated by the giant- Twitter, and that is already suffering from information overload! [...]

By: “Google Bigotry,” Corporate-Bashing & Human Envy — Technology Liberation Front

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:36:57 +0000

[...] one sense, this gets back to my ongoing discussion of the debate between “Internet optimists & pessimists” about the impact of the Internet [...]

By: VABALOG » Blog Archive » 10 artiklit, mis väärivad teistega jagamist

VABALOG » Blog Archive » 10 artiklit, mis väärivad teistega jagamist — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:55:55 +0000

[...] Can Humans Cope with Information Overload? Tyler Cowen & John Freeman Join the Debate – informatsiooniajaloolane Adam Thierer on kahe raamatu arvustamise käigus hakkama saanud mõtlemapaneva esseega, kus proovib tehnooptimistina tehnopessimistidele paremaid argumente pakkuda ja enda seisukohtade puudusi välja tuua. [...]

By: Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 30th August 2009 - DIGTD - Making You More Productive

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:03:13 +0000

[...] first link for this week asks the question Can Humans Cope with Information Overload? This is an interesting post that poses a question based on a review of the Create your own Economy [...]

By: larry C

larry C — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:07:42 +0000

Just stumbled upon your post and had to say your header is really cool. Some pretty intense articles on here too.
Nice blog.
Ciao...

By: waynecrews

waynecrews — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:46:43 +0000

This was a great twitter post Adam. haha. Seriously enjoyed it. The blog over at Telegraph also agrees that---how else can we say it? The Technology Is Innocent. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/andrewk...

These are manufactured problems; it is truly a luxury and self-indulgence to pretend to "worry" over such things as how technology and digitization put all the world's knowledge within arm's reach--and even save one's life in an emergency. Just say it, it's a sign of progress and freedom! Life 500 years ago was vastly more complex in the proper sense of the term "life"; We got it easy. But meanwhile, they'll continue to tell us stories of the Laptop With No Off Button.

By: Etl World News | Assorted links

Etl World News | Assorted links — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:23:00 +0000

[...] 5. Adam Thierer review of Create Your Own Economy. [...]

By: Assorted links « See the Invisible Hand

Assorted links « See the Invisible Hand — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:28:22 +0000

[...] 2. The Attention Festival. 3. Top twenty tracks of the decade? 4. Meat in desserts, a survey. 5. Adam Thierer review of Create Your Own Economy. VN:F [1.5.8_856]RATE THIS POSTplease wait… VN:RO [1.5.8_856]CURRENT RATING(0 [...]

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:25:04 +0000

Nice summarization of Cowen's book. I take the stance that moderation is key in all of this. It's not the technology that damages, its really on you to decide how you will use your time and resources. It can be difficult but its a problem worth having I imagine – being able to sift through so many complex and exciting choices and paths. Also, technology is already moving forward, barring some sort of large black swan event, it makes sense to embrace it somewhat instead of railing against a system thats so myriad, large, and unpredictable – where one's voice may be entirely drowned out or we're arguing about technology that will be replaced in the next few years. From a strategic standpoint it makes more sense to pick and choose what you want from culture and how it can enhance your own life — and how it can help you enhance other's lives and benefit society.

By: Daily Digest for August 24th

Daily Digest for August 24th — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:24:54 +0000

[...] Shared Can Humans Cope with Information Overload? Tyler Cowen & John Freeman Join the Debate [...]

By: Quickly distinguish the internet optimists from the internet pessimists « flowing motion

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:17:54 +0000

[...] original list, in much more academic language, was written by Adam Thierer He is looking for a publisher, [...]

By: InfoBore 33 « ubiwar . conflict in n dimensions

InfoBore 33 « ubiwar . conflict in n dimensions — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:53:24 +0000

[...] Can Humans Cope with Information Overload? Tyler Cowen & John Freeman Join the Debate – Adam Thierer, Technology Liberation Front [...]

By: Nomiki Konst

Nomiki Konst — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:29:23 +0000

I couldn't hold back my thoughts, so I ironically pulled out a pen and pad and started taking notes as I was reading this article. While I agree with the basis of Freeman's article, we are addicted (well some of us) to technology. But it is no longer a form of entertainment, it is now a tool, a friend.

He says that email is distancing us from our community. First, let me mention that e-mail is slowly being replaced. It's now the form of communication for businesses. It's being replaced by facebook (messages and posts) and even twitter. And what is interesting is that twitter is a means where you need to succinctly translate your thoughts in 140 characters, which in my opinion is creating a habit that makes our words far more meaningful.

E-mail also allows us to be honest. There's little shame when you type. Don't we want to be honest? Honesty is a great opening for connection. Connection to friends, future friends, those far away and those within our community.

I feel that his reporting is irrelevant to the time and he is reflecting on the past effects of email and blackberries. Now, social media isn't de-culturing us....it's engaging us. We are stepping away from consumerism and using SM to advocate and promote arts and culture. We're bringing it back into the lives of the overworked who have been starved of it or never had the means to access it. SM is not industrial. It is creating business opportunities using an anti-Industrial model.

Yes, you can get technology jetlag and information addiction (I'm a huge example), but with anything in life, moderation is key. What's wrong with quick info? We are creating a smarter citizen, a curious citizen, perhaps a courageous and investigative citizen who doesn't just accept main stream info.

True, the Internet does allow us the freedom to be unedited. But, why is that bad? It's a practice in self control and manners. We don't need pre-screening. Who says I don't spend time shaping my thoughts and filtering my words when I post on someone's wall? If he is calling for prescreened ideas, he needs to go back to 1952 when there were only a few hours of news via one or two sources.

And, who says that speed isn't efficient? Perhaps he's mixing things up. Freeman's probably used to the old bureaucratic, timely way of getting things done. The Internet allows us to break down all of the barriers, eliminate the "no-men" and produce faster. And what happens when you produce faster? Things happen faster. People are motivated to create more. Information isn't filtered. It's speedy, but it's also efficient (just as the conveyor belt was to the Industrial movement, or the printing press was to the Middle Ages). Except the internet's main purpose isn't to drive profit.

He then talks about brain activity. I wonder if someone has done a study to measure the brain activity of my generation and compare it to a decade before. Since we're taking in more, and definitely learning more, are we using more of our brain?

Saying that typing with your fingers isn't as natural as writing, is like saying that talking with your mouth isn't as natural as using a man made pen to dictate your thoughts. E-mail is still a slower form of talking, but a speedier way of writing.

And, I love working at coffee shops! To me, it's a sign of the fall of the Industrial corporate workplace. Many of us are no longer working in a cubicle Mon-Fri 8-5pm under fluorescent lights. I get to sip my latte, listen to jazz and work on my MacBook while sitting in a big comfy chair in my jeans and tshirt.

And lastly, Facebook. Facebook isn't replacing relationships, it's beginning relationships. As I told my father last night, facebook is the most socially connected friend you have. He's an oracle, a genie and a psychologist in one. You want to know the best local pizza joint? Ask facebook and a dozen friends will respond! You want to know of a good lawyer? Ask facebook and a friend will link you to another friend! Want to find a local group of individuals who like to collect old obscure records? Ask facebook and you'll find those people via group, profile or post.

He just seems jaded and frustrated. It is ironic that I read this today. I wrote a blog last night about the language barrier between generations. I was motivated to discuss the barrier after speaking with my father on the phone about technology. He's pretty hip and with it and he tries very hard to understand new tech talk, but he is still lacking. He's like a foreigner who has lived in another country for a few years- they understand the language but still can't dream in that language. And worse, he's raised a child in that country who speaks the language fluently even though he's spent less time living there.

Now there's my manifesto. If you'd like to read more about our generation's take on the world, visit: www.TheYippie.com