Information for Living

Probably most human activities involve critical thinking. Information frequently finds you unprepared, unavoidable, attacking in the most merciless and inconvenient ways. Walking across the street requires knowing and accumulating volumes of information about imagery, lighting, traffic, sounds, physics, customs, laws, history, religion, and philosophy, not to mention personal capabilities and characteristics of response. How to apply the information to the task requires analytical and associative thinking, projections of future outcomes and identification of patterns. Should I cross here? Is it safe? Should I hurry? Can a car get here before I can get across, or in the case of imminent danger and spiritual insecurity, perhaps before I can get a cross? Where’s the nearest traffic light? Should I obey the law? Is it convenient? Why should I cross in a pedestrian crossing? Do I care what other people think? Is that Brad Pitt over there?

Therefore, it goes without stating, which means, of course, that it will be stated, critical thinking concerns the most intricate and personal aspects of our lives, so why would critical thinking be an issue of concern somehow separate from any particular problem? Maybe one answer has to do with the necessity of noticing patterns. Accumulation of information for such diverse projects as genetic research and identity theft or hacking requires the identification of patterns connected to the production of information.

What are the situational patterns, the parameters, that provide clues to the operation of natural processes and to the behavior that controls access to property or other valuable information, and how do people think who gather and use that information? The analytical processes are closely related, the patterns that generate databases fundamental. One scholarly critic describes it as “Unit Operations,” the idea of producing information processing programs that are both reusable and modifiable in ways that allow adaptation to a variety of purposes. In general, for instance, word processing serves the purposes of both divinity and drug dealers.

What the recognition of fundamental or underlying patterns means for information fluency is that understanding how information works, finding information, using information; research, rhetoric, and critical thinking, suggests clues, not just to the subject of a specific inquiry, but to the complete range of information-critical problems. Understanding how to prepare and use research makes the products of the thinking and development behind hacking, identity theft, and online scams not entirely avoidable maybe, but certainly easier to recognize and deal with, which is another way of saying information fluency represents information for living.

Here's Thinking for You

Iffy