“We are experiencing a fundamental paradigm shift in our relationship to knowledge. From the ‘information age’, we are moving towards the ‘reputation age’, in which information will have value only if it is already filtered, evaluated and commented upon by others. Seen in this light, reputation has become a central pillar of collective intelligence today. It is the gatekeeper to knowledge, and the keys to the gate are held by others. The way in which the authority of knowledge is now constructed makes us reliant on what are the inevitably biased judgments of other people, most of whom we do not know.”

“Say goodbye to the information age: it’s all about reputation now”
--Nigel Warburton, Editor
AEON
https://aeon.co/ideas/say...tation-now

Great article. Thank you, Hal. It has been very obvious for quite a while, don't you think?

I’m thinking this is maybe the way it seemed when printed books (& literacy) exploded onto the scene in Europe. Information overload, outmoded ways of determining credibility / reputation, and change after change after change. And no way to know the outcome of the changes.

But for today, the biggest issue I see is that darned few people understand the concept(s) of critical thinking & reasoning. People latch on to the first “information” source they find that agrees with them and then they burrow in. No questions asked.

The sad thing is that 38% of this country sneer at knowledge and facts.

Interesting article.

While the author would likely contend the Reputation Age is "new", I would contend its always been around and is just coming back into vogue. I think one only has to consider religious orthodoxy as an example. The "information" associated with Christianity or Islam is based on the purported reputation of Jesus or Mohammad and has been zealously guarded and promoted by the adherents to said orthodoxy.

Most of our beliefs come from the inevitable biased judgements of others, whom we do not know. Most of our thoughts about what is "good" or "bad" in our society is based on the a belief about the reputation of Jesus and Mohammad and what we think they would think about a given situation or circumstance.

Thank you. Just excellent. Well worth the watch.