But like all breakthroughs, there’s an upside and a downside to this new paradigm. 

The upside is an obvious one — we can share information cheaper, faster, and among more people than ever before. 

The downside is not so obvious — the harm it can do. 

You see, the word “information” has become virtually synonymous with the word “fact.” Yet most of what passes on the Internet as fact is, instead, opinion, judgment, or inference. Which when used as premises to think through a personal problem, are not only worthless, they can be damaging. 

Pierre Gallois once said:  "If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out but tomfoolery. But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine, is somehow ennobled and no one dares criticize it." 

Analogously, if you put opinion, judgment, and inference on the Internet, nothing comes out but opinion, judgment, and inference. But having been delivered by something akin to the Oracle at Delphi, these personal, and therefore, biased evaluations, are viewed as gospel. As a result, few think to question their validity as far as their own particular affairs are concerned. 

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use the Internet because you could be misinformed. That would be like advising you to avoid using electricity because people from time to time get electrocuted. 

What I am advising is that you use this new medium the way porcupines make love — very carefully. 

Think about it.