Quote of the day: In our age, 'Information is cheap, but meaning is expensive'

"We
now live in a world where information is potentially unlimited. Information is
cheap, but meaning is expensive." — George
Dyson. (I'd heard of his pop and his sister but not of him.)

This
wasn't always the case. I remember reading in Braudel's
history of the Mediterranean that in 16th century Europe,
information was mighty expensive. One example that struck me (if I am recalling
Braudel correctly) was that sending a letter from Spain to Paris cost the
equivalent of a university professor's annual salary. Now sending that e-mail
is basically free. On the other hand, no one got spammed back in 1550.

I think that what this blog should try to be about is making
sense of new information. I march forward with new resolve!