Googlized Wisdom & Flickering Pixels
Thoughts On Communication From Flickering Pixels
Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith by Shane Hipps makes a compelling case for stepping back and taking a thorough look at the mediums we use to communicate and how those mediums shape our messages, lives, and beliefs. Pixels is based off of Marshall McLuhan’s research regarding mediums of communication, and, in particular, McLuhan’s famous statement, “The medium is the message.”
Widely accepted for some time now, most communicators believe that the way in which we correspond must adapt to ever evolving circumstances and environments but our message, if we value its content, cannot. In other words, maintain the message at all costs but revamp the method of delivery in order to stay relevant. Responding to this notion Hipps claims, “If the first truth is that our methods necessarily change, the second truth is that whenever our methods change, the message automatically changes along with them. You can’t change methods without changing your message–they’re inseperable.”
Hipps exams the history of communication from verbal to print to Morse code to T.V. to Google, seeking to prove that every new media is simply a modification of the one before it. Hipps’ theory is quietly founded upon the notion that all forms of media are simply extensions of our own selves, yet he believes that communication mediums can quickly turn against us, consume us, and irrevocably damage our message if we don’t see them for what they truly are.
Flickering Pixels is full of in-depth content, wrapped in a neat, easy to consume format. The medium with which Hipps uses to communicate must be examined as well, and he acknowledges this, subliminally inviting the reader to do so. In other words, don’t just devour what media communicators, medium builders or Hipps himself feeds you. Chew, grind and taste what’s in your mouth before you swallow it. And, just as importantly, comprehend how they deliver their messages in the first place. The medium is the message.
Oh, and by the way, you too are a medium for communication. What are your actions saying about your message?
Here’s a passage regarding the differences between information, understanding and wisdom in the Information Age from Pixels.
Information alone is strength without coordination. We become a danger mostly to ourselves when we have it. Understanding is the ability to coordinate that raw information in meaningful ways. Understanding creates a certain enthusiasm. We can direct our knowledge toward potentially useful ends–but we may also be a danger to others. Wisdom, however, is knowing how, when, and why we use our understanding; wisdom is settling into our understanding without being too enamored by it.
The Internet encourages only the knowledge-gathering stage without considering coordination or meaningful connections. Despite Google and Wikipedia’s best efforts, understanding is not born of the answers algorithms provide–answers and understanding are not the same thing. Some will sift through the answers and information, seek to coordinate it, and emerge with understanding–but this is still not the same as understanding.
Unfortunately, the Information Age does little to encourage the development of wisdom. This requires time, experience, contemplation, patience, suffering, and even stillness to obtain. But the churning sea of information never settles long enough to allow for the emergence of wisdom. We are left instead with “the conceit of wisdom rather than real wisdom” and become a burden to society rather than a boon.
If we are not alert, the Information Age may stunt our growth and create a permanent puberty of the mind.
Flickering Pixels, Shane Hipps, pg 71-72
