Drowning in an information sea

According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, fantasy may be in the process of beating reality in the battle of ideas. In a survey of YouTube viewers of videos relating to information about immunization, videos with negative depiction of the practice (and which were given low ratings for scientific accuracy) were rated higher and had a higher hit count than those that were generally considered to be more scientifically accurate.

I'd be careful not to inject too much meaning into the survey (umm...no pun intended). The topic WAS immunization, which probably falls pretty low on the list of things people tend to seek on YouTube. That fact likely means that a larger percentage of people who go looking for such information might be "enthusiasts" of the topic. Enthusiasts can skew survey results. Enthusiasts can make presidential candidates look more popular than they are, and can make debates about operating systems look like one side is more popular than its installed numbers might imply. Enthusiasts actively hunt for information on the topic about which they are enthusiastic, and that applies equally to fans of long-shot presidential candidatess as it does to people who are convinced that the government is hiding the fact that immunization is a bad idea.

Crackpot videos can also be a lot of fun. Why spend time watching dry expositions of the technical merits of immunization when one can watch a video created by a guy wearing a suit made of aluminum foil explaining that immunization interferes with the Zen-Yi flow of energy between people on Alpha Centauri and many-tentacled creatures who exist in 10-dimensional space. I would watch that, and not because I think the guy is on to something (on something, maybe).

On the other hand, it is true that the barrier to entry for creating credible-looking "infotainment" has dropped considerably. Digital cameras are extremely cheap, and top-notch desktop video editing software can be found for not much more (my favorite is Sony Vegas). When costs are low, the crackpots have fewer barriers to the dissemination of their ideas.

I'm not going to pretend that past information was perfect. When I was young, the government used to teach children about the need to eat equal measures of the the "four food groups" (meat, dairy, grains and fruits / vegetables) in a typical day. The reality is that we should think in terms of a "food pyramid" with meat and dairy at the top (the smaller portions) and grains and vegetables at the bottom.

Did the meat and dairy industry, both of whom would benefit from a population convinced that they need to eat a lot more meat and dairy than they otherwise might, have anything to do with that? Who knows. I'm suspicious, given that NASA was reluctant to release flight safety data for fear of economic harm to airline companies. Narrow interests with lots of money frequently have too much influence into the workings of government.

That's why I would never, EVER want to stop people from being able to create ANY kind of media they want. Even crackpot ideas might have a kernel of truth to them.

More information of varying degrees of quality, however, does mean that we must take more responsibility for the proper maintenance of our information filter. It's a process a bit like teenagers going off to college. Once there, teens no longer have parents around to tell them not to spend every night sucking down beer bongs and hanging around in strange bars. Most eventually learn these skills, but for awhile, things might seem a bit unhinged.

Similarly, human beings must grow accustomed to the change in the information landscape inaugurated by the development of low-cost digital media. People with strange beliefs have always existed. The Internet has given them a bigger megaphone through which to communicate with the world. That may result, for a time, in more people believing strange things.

Over time, however, people mature. The Internet is still relatively new technology on historic scales. I'm not overly concerned that our current lack of self-control will translate into a long-term malady.