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'''Historically information was scarce, now it is | '''Historically information was scarce, now it is abundant. We used to be walking the desert desperate for information, now we have so much we don't know what to trust. Wikipedia has tried to combat this issue, by listing which sources are most reliable and excluding specific those which prefer clicks over fact:'''[[File:News hierarchy.jpg|alt=News hierarchy|center|960x960px|'''Figure 1'''. Wikipedia's news reliability hierarchy]] | ||
[[File:Corporate owners-media.png|alt=Oligo|thumb|'''Figure 2'''. Oligopolies of media.]] | [[File:Corporate owners-media.png|alt=Oligo|thumb|'''Figure 2'''. Oligopolies of media.]] | ||
[[File:Weighting hierarchy.png|alt=Weighting hierarchy|thumb|'''Figure 3'''. Scientific weighting hierarchy.]] | [[File:Weighting hierarchy.png|alt=Weighting hierarchy|thumb|'''Figure 3'''. Scientific weighting hierarchy.]] | ||
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However, the word ''reliable'' simply implies sources are not making things up, it does not take into account potential [[Cognitive biases|biases]] of each source or [[framing]] of issues to make it more digestible to specific consumers. | However, the word ''reliable'' simply implies sources are not making things up, it does not take into account potential [[Cognitive biases|biases]] of each source or [[framing]] of issues to make it more digestible to specific consumers. | ||
Imagine all the information fictional and non-fictional that could ever be produced was produced and available to anyone via the internet. Every ''fact'' would have an equal amount of arguments for and against it irrelevant of its source. Borges in his book [[wikipedia:The_Library_of_Babel|The Library of Babel]], | Imagine all the information fictional and non-fictional that could ever be produced was produced and available to anyone via the internet. Every ''fact'' would have an equal amount of arguments for and against it irrelevant of its source. Borges in his book [[wikipedia:The_Library_of_Babel|The Library of Babel]], created a thought experiment where all possible 410-page books of a certain format and character set are available to anyone. Essentially, within our own confines, this represents all knowledge humans '''could''' possibly produce. It would take several lifetimes for one person to read each and every book. Similarly, it would take multiple lifetimes to read everything on the internet, understand its source and bias and whittle out the truth. This is especially difficult as our media is being aggregated into oligopolies which often serve a specific agenda (see '''Figure 2'''). | ||
== Critical Appraisal == | == Critical Appraisal == | ||