Quote of the day–Dmitry Orlov

Perhaps there is a physical principal involved: information spreads at the speed of light, while ignorance is instantaneous at all points in the known universe.


Dmitry Orlov
February 13, 2009
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[Of course. Ignorance is the default state so it doesn’t really need to “spread”. But giving Orlov some slack there does appear to be a very strong tendency for people to cling to their ignorance despite the availability of information.–Joe]

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4 thoughts on “Quote of the day–Dmitry Orlov

  1. If you’re going to talk about information in terms of qualities of light, perhaps it would be best to describe people in terms of their information opacity in that spectrum. An information-opaque person must absorb the incoming information, and therefore increase in energy (knowledge). An information-transparent person would absorb nothing.

    For example, I’m fairly opaque when it comes to computers and guns. Expose me to an information source and I pretty much absorb all of it. On the other hand, I’m rather less opaque when it comes to household cleaning.

    Members of the Brady Campaign, in the spectrum of gun information, are information translucent and internally flawed. They absorb just a little true information about firearms and crime, and when you observe that information through them, you get a distorted picture.

  2. Remember your physics. There are three components to the distribution of incident radiation; 1) Absorption, 2) Transmission, and 3) Reflection.

    You left out those that reflect information. It just bounces off of them no matter how bright the illuminating source. And the reflection can be distorted as in a fun-house mirror or even completely scrambled like a matte white surface.

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