{"id":33758,"date":"2017-03-08T02:08:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T10:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=33758"},"modified":"2017-02-01T20:13:38","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T04:13:38","slug":"more-information-more-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/08\/more-information-more-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"More Information, More Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kyoto,
Kyoto, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Is having more information better?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcless\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/h2>\n

We generally think the more information, the better.<\/p>\n

In reality, it is the opposite: the more information we have, the worse-off we are.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

The more information we have, the more chance for there to be false correlations in our data.<\/p>\n

The more information we have, the more distractions we have.<\/p>\n

The more information we have, the less attention we have.<\/p>\n

The more information we have, the less we know.<\/p>\n

Unlearn<\/h2>\n

One thing I learned from Taoist philosophy is to gain true wisdom, we should week to unlearn<\/em> (to remove information from our brain), rather than to add<\/em> information to our brains.<\/p>\n

When we are children, we are the most wise. Then as we get older, we gain this false information. We \u00e2\u20ac\u0153learn\u00e2\u20ac\u009d how to shut up, stay quiet, listen to authority, listen to society, sit down, and not interrupt.<\/p>\n

If you really want to become the best version of yourself, you need to unlearn<\/em> what society has taught you.<\/p>\n

Always be skeptical<\/h2>\n

You also want to beware information that can hurt you.<\/p>\n

There is a lot of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mis-information\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on the internet, which is harmful to you. If you have a health condition and read mis-information on the internet about a potential cure, this could end up killing you.<\/p>\n

Avoid social media<\/h2>\n

Too much superfluous information in terms of social media is also harmful to you. Do you really need to know where all your friends are currently on holiday? Do you need to see the information (via pictures) of them relaxing on the beach, enjoying a cappuccino in Paris, or having a beer by the river?<\/p>\n

This information will only make you feel worse about your life. It will invite more jealousy and envy in your life. You will be worse-off.<\/p>\n

Limit your information intake<\/h2>\n

Focus on \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsignal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and avoid the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnoise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcSignal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is information which helps you. Which empowers you. This information is rare, often hard to find, and comes in small doses.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNoise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is information which steals your attention, makes you more distracted, more anxious, and more miserable. Watching the TV news 24\/7 is 99% noise. They just need to constantly have something in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnews\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to sell more advertisements and commercials to you. Same goes with most websites, blogs, things on the internet, and social media.<\/p>\n

Fast from sterile information<\/h2>\n

Try having a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmedia fast\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d for an entire week, go without reading any websites, blogs, social media, or sources of distraction.<\/p>\n

Try to focus on only intaking information that will actually empower you. Generally I only trust books (and older philosophy books, as they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trying to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 you anything). And information that has existed for a long time is probably more \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctrue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 than modern information. What would you rather trust\u00e2\u20ac\u201d information that has been around for 2000 years, or only 2 days? The information published 2 days ago, will probably not continue to exist into the future. The information which has been around for 2000 years has a high likelihood to exist another 2000 years (the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLindy effect\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d according to philosopher Nassim Taleb).<\/p>\n

Cut the fat<\/h2>\n

What information is superfluous to you? Ruthlessly cut it from your life. With less sterile information in your life, you will gain more wisdom, insight, and focus.<\/p>\n

Continue to cultivate \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcselective ignorance\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and your possibilities will become endless.<\/p>\n

Always,
\nEric<\/p>\n

Learn more: Life Philosophy ><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is having more information better?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33752,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-kodak-tri-x-1600-1598.jpg?fit=1545%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}