October 2018
Accessibility of information over the Internet has devalued the relevance of fact. It has blurred the line between experts and others thus allowing untruths to proliferate. Any layman can present themselves as being as authoritative as an expert while espousing unsubstantiated opinion. They rely on the power that emotion can have over fact.
This has made it harder for condo corporations to make good choices.
Information overload is everywhere. An average supermarket contained about 9,000 products in 1976. Today there are over 40,000 products. Yet most of us require no more than 150 items.
Over the past ten years we have created more “information” than in our entire history.
Google, Wikipedia and the proliferation of blogs may be symptoms of the “death of expertise”; a term used by Professor Tom Nichols to describe a society where those who have developed an expertise and good track record are no better regarded than any other individual. An example of this manifestation is when people go online to diagnose themselves and value their diagnosis as equal or superior to that of an experienced doctor. The fact that accurate diagnosis and proper treatment requires more than a matching of symptoms becomes irrelevant.
Another challenge is that human brains are not designed to multitask. While we can multitask, this leads to over-stimulation and lack of decisiveness. Information overload is far more extensive than it once was.
A third challenge is that maintaining pre-existing beliefs is easier than accepting conflicting information from experts based on factual information and their experience. People intent on swaying others to their opinion take advantage of those who value their own beliefs over facts. It is easier to capitalize on this when there is information overload.
Effective decisions in condo corporations require that directors fight back against information overload and the preference of belief over fact. Condo owners should be electing and supporting directors who are predisposed to better information management and reliance on fact.
