How to choose and use information

Since the brain cannot experience reality directly (it can only experience reality through the body and per implication the senses), humans have no choice but to rely on information about reality to experience reality. An example is witnessing an aeroplane overhead. We do not experience the actual plane, but rather the sensory information it reflects and emits which we interpret to be a plane. Without light- and sound waves information we would be oblivious to the plane’s existence. Our experience of reality is thus dependent on the accuracy of how we collect, review and use information.

Information awareness

Being consciously aware of this process is critical to understanding our present circumstances and planning for our future. We must understand the causal link between our information engagement process and our unwanted present circumstances before we can alter the process to re-engineer a better future.

In broad terms humans perceive reality by observing life around them, thinking about the implications of their observations and deciding on action or inaction. We collect data, review it in accordance with our mental model (worldview) to create information which we use to make decisions and take action. In essence our dealings with information produce effects from which we collect new information to make the next round of decisions.

Passive collection and active choosing

We collect information casually and opportunistically as a matter of course. This passive collection includes information about the external world, including general information about the outcomes of our actions. Our review process scrubs the overload of information to fit our current view of reality (mental model). This passive cycle usually perpetuates our present circumstances and current future. In other words, we remain stuck in the unwanted present.

In contrast to collecting, choosing involves taking specific actions to select information to update existing knowledge. This type of information needs to be objective and thoroughly analysed to be useful. Importantly, choosing influences collecting since information about the outcome is collected (and reviewed) in terms of information that was chosen to cause it. In this way choosing facilitates learning which leads to change. An example is betting on a sure win on advice from a friend, only to realise after the loss we should have treated our friend’s opinion with more circumspection. The lesson learnt adjusts our review process, however slightly, in anticipation of the next time our friend offers advice.

Thinking differently about the future

Thinking differently about the future influences the review process to kickstart active information gathering and utilisation. Thinking differently about the future predisposes a new outcome which the review process sets out to achieve through focussed information selection and choice of action.