Comment mentats: the solution to infinite information (Score 1) 269
With the large amounts of input available, it's tempting to just feed at the trough of information and become a being of pure stimulus - in other words, a consumer. Though media has, in its forms, dominated the social life of humans down the millenia, it seems that the situation is approaching oversaturation.
It seems then that humanity should, in information-rich societies, be intellectually moving towards the being known as "mentats" in the Dune series - people who can absorb vast amounts of information, distill it, and constantly reconfigure their internal model of the information in realtime. These people then become, for all intents and purposes, filters for sponsors and/or patrons.
In reality, this is the basis behind the management of businsses and/or people: one person is responsible for the division, subordinates, keeping up with the field, competition, etc, and should be a vast repository of knowledge about the specified domain for their superiors. In business, everyone knows (or should know) that the quality of your management team = the quality of your company. In information-rich societies, the quality of your mentats will reflect the quality of your company. Who can obtain and plow through vast fields of information will be dominant; who can analyze the consumer and discover what they really want will be dominant.
For consumers, the picture is either bleak or exhilarating depending on the perspective. Exhilarating, because corporations will serve your every need without you even knowing necessarily that you had that need, bleak because, with all needs satisfied continuously progress will stop.
Interesting, thou.
It seems then that humanity should, in information-rich societies, be intellectually moving towards the being known as "mentats" in the Dune series - people who can absorb vast amounts of information, distill it, and constantly reconfigure their internal model of the information in realtime. These people then become, for all intents and purposes, filters for sponsors and/or patrons.
In reality, this is the basis behind the management of businsses and/or people: one person is responsible for the division, subordinates, keeping up with the field, competition, etc, and should be a vast repository of knowledge about the specified domain for their superiors. In business, everyone knows (or should know) that the quality of your management team = the quality of your company. In information-rich societies, the quality of your mentats will reflect the quality of your company. Who can obtain and plow through vast fields of information will be dominant; who can analyze the consumer and discover what they really want will be dominant.
For consumers, the picture is either bleak or exhilarating depending on the perspective. Exhilarating, because corporations will serve your every need without you even knowing necessarily that you had that need, bleak because, with all needs satisfied continuously progress will stop.
Interesting, thou.
