The Value of Information

We are, as they say, living in an information age, dating from that time when the engines of economies transitioned from industrial processes to information technology. Our information society relies on the creation, distribution and use of information; and all this has been driven by the advent and explosion of the internet. Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Machine Learning… we see so many information-driven terms that are part of our everyday conversation. Information is power. So, the value of information to us has never been higher. And yet, for a number of reasons, that platitude is a huge understatement.

When we boil it down, information is used to make decisions. And although the volume of information is probably growing exponentially, the real utility and quality of information is increasingly harder to determine. For example, how do we even determine what is true? Oceans of misinformation and disinformation compete on an equal basis with sources of the truth. And what are those sources, something like Wikipedia? Even that is subject to the biases of those that provided the information. So, what does all this mean?

It means we are faced with a dichotomy: information has never been more valuable or harder to classify. It means we are going to have to work harder, using all the tools at our disposal and our powers of logic to analyze and filter information. It means we will need to factor in who is making the decision, and when and how it is made. It means we will need to recognize and get comfortable with the fact that we will almost never have all the information we would like for making non-trivial decisions. And it means we will learn to increasingly value actionable information from a trusted source, like our best friend telling us there’s a half-price sale on steaks at the grocery.

So, what information do you value and how do you value it?