If we accept the computer as a metaphor for the brain itself, then the intellect is the hardware and information the software. A computer accepts all information impartially, sorts it without judging it, store it, and regurgitates it on command. But a computer chip is built to last practically forever while human brings are comparatively short lived. All information is not of equal value, if we had eternity to sift through the information of previous centuries- all the books, music, art, ideas generated by the human race, all the wonders of the universe known and unknown-we could take our time selecting the best and leaving the rest.
In the last 400 years, we have mad a quantum leap in information technology. By the 1980s, if a Russian leader sneeze in Moscow, his ka-choo is transmitted instantly by satellite, the Soviet delegation to the United Nations can say "Gesundheit" in New York, and a few seconds later, they can hear "Thank you" back from the Kremlin.
Every day we are bombarded b an onslaught of information from the airwaves, from our newspapers and magazines, by video clip and radio-cast, and even by headlines spelled out in lights blinking around public buildings. At least, most of this bombardment is unnecessary overload. Much of the time, it is simply junk. at worst, however, it is dangerously misleading.
Always remember that there is more information than truth. Information is only the first step to Data, and Data only the next step to Fact. Fact is on the road to Truth, but is has a long way to go. And do not ever confuse Information with Truth, or you will wind up with a painful of dirt, or at best, fool's gold.
Know exactly who and what it is feeding you information before you swallow or digest it. Chew the information thoroughly first. We have talked before about how people unconsciously select slanted or biased newspapers, magazines and other sources of information and "opinion" to buttress their own beliefs. By now you should be out of that habit.
Learn to install facts from commentary. Probably the greatest difficulty in distilling facts from commentary is telling the difference. The words you hear spoken on the news have often been so homogenized that the milk of commentary and the cream of fact are blended so completely you can not tell where one leaves off and the other begins.
Understand that a lot of the time this is not even done consciously. There is no conspiracy to matter of each person in power having his or her own political beliefs. This fact causes each speech or program to be slanted in that particular direction. Overt instructions to slant the news are quite unnecessary. Every employee knows that the fastest route to advancement is to please the boss and fix into the organisation.
Many television news programs actually employ "commentators", media stars who are paid to deliver a one-sided opinion of national and world events. They tell you up front that this is their commentary and doesn't reflect anything but that. Presumably, the viewer is meant to believe that the rest of the news is therefore free of slant or bias. But to believe that is an naive as believing that newspapers run unbiased stories off the editorial pages and put of the purview of its columnists.