“We are in an age of information, and in an age of information ignorance is a choice”.
Dr Joe Dispenza
Hi everyone, new and old readers. I write to you from Spain during these unprecedented times and by the time I publish this I have been confined to my home for 7 weeks in one of the world´s most strict lock downs during the health crisis of 2020. I tell you this because different countries have taken different approaches and where you are geographically will probably affect your perception.
If you have read my blogs before you know that they are very much focused on passing on techniques for you to create the life you want. However, I have changed the format since we began lockdown in Spain seven weeks ago.
One of my main topics has been how to maintain your state during these challenging times and one way to do this is to filter what you read, listen to or watch.
I have been remembering one of my professors Dr. Ward from my BSc in Consumer Science, he taught me micro-economics and he said, ever so often, a perfect market would need perfect information.
Now, this was during the times where you had a modem and you would make a call to connect to the internet. So, research was still mostly done at the library and making your own experiments. We had to search for information and not filter as much as you do today.
Last night I was relaxing watching some past episodes of the Graham Norton Show and Stephen Fry was on this particular one. He was presenting his new book on Greek mythology.
When I was finishing school in Denmark, my last years before university, Greek mythology and Latin was still part of the mandatory curriculum and I remember the myths relatively well.
Anyway, the myth that was mentioned on the show was Pandora´s Box and just in case you don’t know it yet or can´t quite remember, here is a summary of it. Bear with me as I´m relying on memory:
Prometheus stole fire from heaven to give it to humans. Zeus got so mad he sought for vengeance. He tied Prometheus to a rock and under the pretense of feeling sorry for Prometheus´ brother Epimetheus, because he was now lonely, Zeus offered Epimetheus the beautiful Pandora in marriage. At their wedding he gave Pandora a jar, also known as Pandora´s box, with a note saying do not open.
Curiosity got the better of Pandora and she opened the jar, and out came sickness, death and many more evils, which were now released into the world. As she hurries to close the jar one thing remains in there. Most people know this to have been hope, however some people think that the real translation is deceptive expectation.
The idiom “to open Pandora´s box” has come to mean the beginning of something that can cause unforeseen problems.
And during the Graham Norton show, Stephen Fry draws a parallel from Pandora´s box to the internet.
Which made me think to myself “yes today we have such an overflow of information that it becomes as difficult to know the truth as when you have a lack of information”. Will we then ever have a perfect market if there is no perfect information?
As I work up the morning after, I had email from Yale University. I did an online course with them on positive psychology and since then I’m on their mailing list.
They were offering me a course by the world-renowned physician and clinical researcher Dr. F. Perry Wilson, the course is called : “Understanding Medical Research Your Facebook Friend is Wrong”
I must admit that the title tickled me, as lately I have been doing more books and less Face.
The course is for you to educate yourself to know the difference between the articles meant to harm, frighten or give false hope to vulnerable members of communities. So basically, to know the difference between bad science and good science and make it known when you discover the difference.
That is to educate yourself not to be fooled by imposters, I may sign up as it has been awhile since I have had to write up the scientific method on a university paper.
Understanding how medical research works may very well give you the ability to filter some of the mass information that we get and to be critical of your sources.
With all of my best intentions I hope that you and your loved ones are safe and remember it is free to be kind.
With kindness,
Ivalo