Summary and Response to Chapter 1 of Too Big To Know

 In David Weinberger’s 2011 book, Too Big to Know, Weinberger explains the significance of knowledge in the current internet age. The concept of knowledge has changed significantly over the years, according to Weinberger. Knowledge used to fit into a “perfectly ordered whole” and was considered an object of perfect beauty in the West. As time elapsed, knowledge began to accumulate, forcing the creation of a new way to filter the information into a manageable whole. This idea was harnessed in the Information Age where computers began to take a minuscule amount of filtered knowledge, and provide it to the public. Weinberger explains, however, that these extreme filters excluded many knowledgeable opinions and ideas, which ultimately led to the formation of false beliefs. This was caused by the misconception that there was too much knowledge and that information overload would occur. This belief was wrong, according to Weinberger, because now knowledge is about including everything. Current filters on the internet only remove the amount of clicks people need to get somewhere; not the content that people seek. Weinberger argues that filters are no longer filtering things out, but filtering forward, including opinions and facts from everywhere and everyone. The networks are expanding from professional experts, to people we are familiar with and trust. This, Weinberger states, is problematic because the filters are bringing forward any information, opinions, and “facts” many of which can be inaccurate or ignorant. People now can always be contradicted because it is possible to find any argument online that supports a certain belief. Although filters are not necessarily doing their job, Weinberger argues that the web is a medium big enough to contain all of the knowledge people need, and that has changed the way knowledge is being perceived forever.

In Chapter One of Too Big To Know, Weinberger says knowledge is made up of data that gives us information that eventually has greater value. Knowledge used to, as Weinberger states, "...fit together in a perfectly ordered whole." (3) It was beautiful and without fault. As time went on, there was so much to understand that we started to filter and reduce what we as a people actually need to know. This created a more manageable system. We felt that there was so much information out in the world, that we couldn't possibly store it all in our minds. So we created this exceptional filtering system that filtered things out including concepts that no one would have ever considered, concepts that may contradict things that are false but seen as facts. We now filter things forward, bringing all the knowledge we want to learn into the foreground, making it much easier to get the knowledge we want. Weinberger noted that our brains are not limiting us, but the way we use the media to get past what our brains cannot do. The role of being online- specifically networking-  has vastly changed the way we acquire knowledge. Information has no end because every link you find that is related to your question, directs you somewhere else, and it goes on and on. We live in a society where we need more and more information. The concept of information overload does not hold the same meaning that it had in the past. Anyone can learn whatever they please because there are no boundaries and no need for experts to do things for you. The way we acquire knowledge is ever-changing, and as time goes by, we will see more efficient ways of learning and more information being brought to our attention.