Chomsky on Information Overload

Ironic. (Or maybe not. I never really understood this word well enough to be confident that I am using it properly.)

In my RSS reader, where there are currently 2774 unread articles and 361 marked for later reading, I came across an interview with Noam Chomsky on information overload. And then I opened my 7th tab in Firefox to write about it.

Of course, Chomsky may not be the best person to ask about this subject. He says, “I wish I could answer sensibly. I just can’t. You should see the room in which I’m working. Piles of books, clippings, manuscripts, notes … All sorts of lost treasures buried in them.”

Now I’ll actually read the article.

Update: It turns out that quote was Chomsky’s entire contribution to that article. Haha.

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  • Chomsky actually gives a much better, fuller answer during his Authors@Google talk:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=rnLWSC5p1XE

    For the whole Q/A section, start at 27:35.

    For a more direct, to-the-point answer, go to 31:50.

    He talks about a ‘framework of understanding’.

    I might throw a comment over at blogoscoped because I feel like this is basically ‘crucial’ – as Chomsky suggests.