#information-crisis

#information-crisis

Naomi Alderman argues that one of the most useful things to know is the name of the era you're living in, and she proposes one for ours: the Information Crisis. In fact, the advent of digital media marks the third information crisis humans have lived through: the first came after the invention of writing; the second followed the printing press. These were periods of great social conflict and upheaval.

A lot of the problems that face us, and the opportunities that present themselves, are defined not by our own choices or even the specific place or government we're living under, but by the particular epoch of human events that our lives happen to coincide with. The Industrial Revolution, for example, presented opportunities for certain kinds of business success it made some people very rich while others were exploited. If you'd known that was the name of your era, it would have given you a clue about what kinds of events to prepare for.