Managing the Proliferation of Information

The amount of information generated and transmitted electronically is almost overwhelming. Between the end of 2005 and the end of 2007, for example, the number of text (SMS) messages generated per year grew from 81 billion to 363 billion, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association®.

In fiscal year 2007, the Library of Congress served up 614 million page views of its Web site, and the Library’s online historical collections included 13.6 million digital files.

All this information must be dealt with by an electrochemical contraption that weighs three pounds, more or less, takes up about half a cubic foot of space, runs on glucose at about 25 watts, processes information at the rate of approximately 100 quadrillion operations per second, looks like a big walnut, and is the world’s first wet computer: the human brain.

The brain is under siege, bombarded from all sides by torrents of new information and from every direction through continually evolving, efficient digital devices. The brain has become electronically dependant as it seeks to absorb the massive flood of information made available by a dizzying array of new digital devices, not to mention billions of Web sites, blogs, wikis, and other Internet-enabled media.

There may well come a time when one’s brain could be augmented with neural chip implants. To illustrate, Google Co-Founder Larry Page reportedly said, “On the more exciting front, you can imagine your brain being augmented by Google. For example you think about something and your cell phone could whisper the answer into your ear.”

Technologies will continue to evolve. Information will continue to expand. The result is rapidly unfolding around us: a knowledge-based society.

What is the knowledge economy? Ask Wikipedia.