Two Views on Information

In Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari uses the phrase “naïve view of information”. What does he mean by that? It is the belief that information is a good thing, and the more of it that we have/get, the better. Information, in this view, leads to truth which then leads to wisdom.

 

That is not true. Corrupt politicians get re-elected; film stars remain popular no matter what they do… even when the information is available to everyone. It is because, says Harari, people don’t connect to a person; rather, they connect to a story about the person.

~~

 

The other view of information, throughout history, is that order is critical for humans to thrive. Chaos and anarchy are to be avoided at all costs. For order (and thus governance) to exist, a group of people need to feel some sense of unity. Hard facts rarely serve that purpose. Good fiction, on the other hand, does the job splendidly. Why? Because the truth is always complicated, messy and has its share of dark episodes.

“In contrast, fiction is highly malleable.”

No, this is not some recent, cynical phenomenon. As far back as ancient Greece, Plato talked of the need for the “noble lie” to unify people. Even today:

“All human political systems are based on fictions.”

~~

 

In social matters, order has always been considered more important than truth. Societies allow the unencumbered pursuit of truth only in certain fields, the ones that don’t threaten the social setup. While this can seem appalling at first, think a bit on it pragmatically and you see why this has always been the case throughout history. How many people, among both the governors and the governed, really feel that truth that leads to social breakdown is a good thing? It is only when the “noble lies” go too far, fail to provide any benefits and/or lead to bad outcomes that people question or challenge.

 

All of which is why Harari says:

“Instead of a march to progress, the history of human information networks is a tightrope walk trying to balance truth with order.”

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