The paradox of plenty
We have more information available to us than any generation in history, and we feel less informed. This is not a contradiction — it is the cost of abundance. When everything is available, nothing is easy to find.
Three filters that hold up
- Provenance — where did this come from, and does the source have skin in the game?
- Half-life — will this still matter in a week, a month, a year? Prefer the long half-life.
- Actionability — does knowing this change a decision I actually face?
A piece of information that passes all three is signal. Everything else is weather — it passes through and is gone.
The information diet
Treat your attention like nutrition. You do not need more; you need better. A small amount of high-fidelity information, consumed deliberately, outperforms a flood consumed reactively.
Knowing quicker is not about speed-reading. It is about choosing better what you read at all.