![[Nexus -- A Brief History of Information Networks From the Stone Age to AI.webp|472]] ## Information does not represent reality / seek truth Naive view of information: information --> truth --> wisdom & power Information is not to represent reality and to seek [[Truth is partial representation of reality|truth]] > Information isn’t truth. A total surveillance system may form a very distorted understanding of the world and of human beings. Instead of discovering the truth about the world and about us, the network might use its immense power to create a new kind of world order and impose it on us. Example: Human history = constant rise in connectivity, without a concomitant rise in truthfulness or wisdom ## Information is more about connection Instead: [[Information creates new realities and connects]] --> creating order Information = social nexus -- *connectivity > truth* Information = the glue that holds networks (systems) together > Information has no essential link to truth, and its role in history isn’t to represent a preexisting reality. Rather, what information does is to create new realities by tying together disparate things—whether couples or empires. Its defining feature is connection rather than representation, and information is whatever connects different points into a network. Information doesn’t necessarily inform us about things. Rather, it puts things in formation. ## Information isn't merely a weapon for power Populist view of information: information --> power > One of the recurrent paradoxes of populism is that it starts by warning us that all human elites are driven by a dangerous hunger for power, but often ends by entrusting all power to a single ambitious human. [[Populism poses threat to democracy by undermining the diversity of information channels and stress power over truth]] --- Information does not necessarily seek truth, but it isn't a mere weapon either. There is enough space between these extremes for a more nuanced and hopeful view of human information networks and of our ability to handle power wisely. [[Information networks are tasked to balance order and truth]]