Digital World, and exponential Information

We live in a world of exponentials. Every day things change faster and faster, to the point a few hours can make all the differences, even for huge companies like GM. It wasn't too long ago that GM asked for help with their company, verging on the edge of bankruptcy. Then Obama gave in, GM got their handout, and now, less than two years after Obama took office, GM is a "new" company, rebuilt and rethought.

Try doing that thirty years ago. In 1980, it would be impossible for a company as huge as GM is to be completely remodeled. It'd of been nearly impossible for the trickle down effect of communication to even have reached and been responded to by everyone in the business in less than two years.

Before the close of the 20th Century, we believed we were moving from the Space age to the Information age, and in many ways, they were right. We are no longer concerned about getting people to Mars, Venus, the moons of Jupiter, or even to our own satellite, Luna. Instead we have turned inwards, moving towards faster, quicker, and MORE communication within our own planet, continent, nation, state, city, home.

But what does it mean to be in an exponential age?

For us, it means something very terrifying. The amount of information the human race was able to create over the last ten years is more than double that of the previous five thousand. What would have given a person a PhD in mathematics in 1400, is now not even enough to graduate from our own high schools.

This trend is prevalent throughout everything we do. Exponential growth, especially once it has reached a large base, goes out of control incredibly quickly. If it is not controlled, it always leads to the extinction or elimination of species, or the destruction of the environment.

I recently watched a slew of videos giving startling statistics about how much the world is changing, even in a few months of time. One twitter could be sent out, and in less time than it takes to sail from Juneau to Sitka (about 3 hours) it could already have been read, analyzed, and responded to more times than there are people in some countries.

What does this mean? It means change happens faster than can possibly be controlled. As such, we, as a species, are given a choice: Slow down, or race to our own extinction...

Or does it? In models of living species, there is a carrying capacity that, once reached, stops the exponential growth. Will we reach that with our communication devices, and social networking? Will we reach a carrying capacity of technological devices where we can no longer absorb the information sent to us?

My answer is, we already have.

While going through Google, do you even noticed the dozen ads floating in the sidelines? We have created software that eliminates pop-ups, so we have the opportunity to actually USE our computers for what we want to use them for. We have to develop ways of filtering the 1,000,000 sites Google gives us when we're looking for something specific.  We are already saturated with information, and cannot possibly absorb more.

But we try.

The disturbing thing about this is, when will we, as a population, say "Enough. There is too much information to shift through, lets narrow it down, and specialize, and for the love of all that is good get rid of the 90% spam rate of junk e-mails floating in the web, they're ridiculous."

And what will be the results?

Housing has always been a need of the population. We need Housing, Food, and Water to survive. These are NEEDS not wants, and thus should always be available to every human being. During the late 90's and early to mid 2000's, housing prices blew up. Housing became the "best investment" you could go into because of its property of being a need and not a want. As such, housing prices began to outpace inflation. Eventually, housing prices had risen high enough that no one could afford a home. People began to say "No. I will not pay half of my life's income for a home. I'd rather rent, live at home with my family and extended family, or even live in a tent." When this happened, the economy that had been built upon the outrageous growth in value of a NEED collapsed. People were told "Go! Spend your life's savings quick! The economy needs you to!" And people did. And when enough people had spent everything they had, and things still hadn't been "Fixed" there came a direly needed recession. Housing prices plummeted. People lost out on loans, having paid 250,000 for a house that suddenly "became" worth 125000. People lost their retirements, their life's savings. Some people went from near billionaires to making 25,000 a year.

The same can, and will, happen in the information overload age. Eventually enough people will say "No more. I can't have any more twitter/texting/facebook/youtube etc." Eventually we will wizen up and say "There's just too much out there for me to handle." And they'll take a step back. Look at their life, and wonder... "WHAT ARE THOSE GREEN THINGS OUTSIDE!!"

They'll have missed the trees for the forest.

About Me

In the beginning of my life, I lived in a military household, with a DI for a father. During that time, from age 0 to 12, my family was relatively happy, even with the constant moving. After 12, my parents divorced, I moved from one family to the other every semester, which meant every 6 weeks at one point, and learned to live in a suite case. Because of the divorce, income in both families were cut in half, even more for my father due to medical problems and having to leave the service. As soon as I turned 18, I joined the Navy, and spent 4 of my 6 years in service in Iraq, Afghanistan, or patrolling the Sea of Japan. In essence, I come from a military culture, have seen the world (except for Antarctica and South America), and have survived just about everything this world has to throw at someone.

Now, at 29, I am happily married to a wonderful woman, and we will soon have our first little one pooping and peeing in our faces. My wife is due June 6th 2011. We can't wait!

I have a Bachelor's in Mathematics from the University of Alaska Southeast, and am now working on a Masters of Arts in Teaching. I teach Algebra II, and Precalculus under the tutelage of Kent Mearig. Every day I learn something new, about my students, about my content, about teaching, and about life. By the end of my time as a MAT student, I hope not only to have mastered the content of teaching, but also have mastered the art... of thieving... er.. teaching... yes... teaching...