Misinformation in an age of information.

It is not until you are in an environment that has a controlled information source, like Cuba, that you realise that opinions are still,very often, formed by mouth to mouth conversation.

Hearty debates and conversation are all well and good in an atmosphere where you can fact check if you feel as though what you are told may be incorrect or twisted for effect by the teller. But, when you are in a place where internet access is nil, television content is monitored, and books are controlled for content, you have to be aware that the information you are giving is quite realistically the "be all and end all" of the awareness that the person you are talking to has on the subject.

Why am I babbling about this?

While I was in Cuba - time and time again I heard my fellow Canadians tell tales and give information that was in all senses of the word - incorrect and even to some extent, ignorant.

I am of the opinion that if you don't know what you are talking about - shut up. If you don't have the information or the facts to give a source of information to a person who doesn't know the difference than you should not be talking about the given subject.

Being schooled and forever interested in Architecture, I feel as though I know a thing or two about it - so when I approached our lobby bar one morning and heard someone (judging by their accent, from Ontario somewhere) tell the bartender who was listening with their mouth hanging open, that they were facinated by Havana because Canada has NO OLD BUILDINGS IN IT, I was appalled.

First of all - the bartender obviously thought that we were living in a new age enviornment, stark of history or culture, and then was of the opinion that Canada has only new facades and skyscrapers dotting its landscape in the way that someone from North America would picture New York. Which is completely incorrect.

Quebec is filled with old buildings! Ontario's neighbour. With a dozen or more, still standing structures that were built is the 1600's.

The oldest church in North America is rumoured to be right here in Newfoundland - located in Carbonear.

Anyway, before I get too carried away with the subject - I guess I am airing another pet peeve. It happens all the time, all around us, and it is probably the cause of origin for the saying:

"Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see"

Are we getting smarter? Or just think we are?

I am inclined to think that SOME of us are getting smarter. And those smarter people are thinking up ways to make us dumber.
Cars that do the watching for us, mobile devices that give us answers before we have to think of them, smart toilets, smart lights, smart ovens and toasters. Seems as though everything but the general public is getting smarter.
The brain is a muscle which we must excercise, test, use on a regular basis. And, people, we are not.
Despite all of this technology to help us get through life in a smooth and easy way - most of it is not helping us GET smarter, learn new things, apply new sciences. Most of it is training us - little by little - not to think at all.
If you asked someone I would be willing to bet that what I am saying is not the general opinion. That because we have become a technology based society that we are, therefore, smarter. Not when the technology has no other applicable features other than to help us communicate without speaking, know without learning, do without training - it is downright scary when you really think about it.
We have all of the information we need at our finger tips - learn how to build a birdhouse, fix a toilet, write a paper in a certain formatt - but what is the quality of this knowledge? Certainly we don't think that someone who has installed a fuacet by watching a YouTube video has the expertise and the knowledge of someone who has actually learned about and recieved training on the subject extensively.
Now - I am not saying that I am against DIY and instant knowledge - I myself love being able to find the answer to a question just by going to the ever faithful Google. But I am concerned that even my ability to think of the answers that I do know will soon fade and that everything will be questionable and of second hand learning. That soon the masses will be relying on a small population of still thinkers to provide all of the answers to general trivia, as well as life's problems. Real or percieved.