facts, belief, knowing

I hate the phrase 'information overload'.  I don't know if there is such a thing because basically, I think people just shut it all off long before they get overloaded.  So I divide the information into a few categories those are my categories so they work for me and they are:  

1. information I might need and can look up later (mental note).  

2. information I can't be bothered with.  

3. stories I might pay attention to that change a belief.

Number one is easy and a person simply inherits the ability to either store lots of this kind of thing or they don't.  You remember where to look or you don't. I think we inherit a level of ability to memorize and categorize and then some things get in the way to diminish it so you can't remember where you put things.  Being distracted, emotional preoccupations, or the use of drugs and alcohol will eventually make a person not function at a very high level.  But I think you start out with a certain capacity and then life happens and you can either learn to learn or you sort of get dumb by accident, bad habits or laziness. Being able to solve problems means you can go in and recall things and then reorganize these ordinary facts in a way no one had considered before.  Kind of a big deal.  I think it's strange no one talks much about this, I think most people don't like to compare how well they function in this area because the educational system gives you your fill of it.  Except for "Are you smarter than a 5th grader" of course.  You know you can play it online now.

I'd say number two ranges from advanced physics to how to cook food I don't like and wouldn't eat and probably 97 percent of what I unknowingly encounter or simply don't understand in a day fits here, it beads up like water droplets that run off.  Might be willful stupidity on my part.  Apparently older people are less able to tune stuff out, they take in more information actually than younger people.   This is often mistaken for the inability to multitask.  The more you take in the more patterns you can see.  The more patterns you see, the better decisions you make.

Number one includes some big stuff.  Like fables, parables, stories, things alluded to in poems and my favorite: good advertising.  Well think about it.  You tell an associative story that uses everyday experiences to change someone's belief about a product or service.  How different is that than any other way we're sold a belief?

I mean there are some ads that give me reasons why I ought to think something is better and then there are the sorts of things politicians say to scare me into behaving a certain way and I just don't want to be argued into things.  You can't argue someone into believing something and beliefs are more powerful than facts.

So if you want a thing believed, start with a story a person can relate to that either applies directly to it or is around it.  Might just be pictures.  Or a film with no sound.  Or two lines of poetry that say something true.

Like Shakespeare: My salad days,  When I was green in judgement.