Tuesday, November 30, 2010

information vs knowledge vs wisdom

for all intensive purposes, i am an information junkie. i am addicted to getting more news, more information, more research. even i may not understand it, anything that pertains to technology, media, astronomy, psychology, religion, i can't quite get enough of.

this presents a problem now that i have access to unlimited information (and limited time and attention). first, i have no idea about its veracity, secondly, even if i only read the as-true-as-humanly-possible ones there would still be unlimited information. people spend their entire lives researching one aspect of these massive subjects.

no matter how much new information that i'm gaining, a decent portion of time must be spent on digestion and integration. otherwise, it's just information. not knowledge.

and knowledge is the thing that makes us a bit wiser. and sometimes, knowledge can even be a bit unsettling at first. after a bit of time and consideration, perhaps then it becomes wisdom, which, eventually, brings us peace of mind.