“When information is cheap, attention becomes expensive.”
Source: The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
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James Gleick15
American author, journalist, and biographer 1954Related quotes
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Source: Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (6th ed., 2006), Chapter 8, The Information Revolution and the Diffusion of Power, p. 252.
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and psychologist
Simon, H. A. (1971) "Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World" in: Martin Greenberger, Computers, Communication, and the Public Interest, Baltimore. MD: The Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 40–41.
1960s-1970s
“… a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention…”
Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001) American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and psychologist
Simon, H. A. (1971) "Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World" in: Martin Greenberger, Computers, Communication, and the Public Interest, Baltimore. MD: The Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 40–41.
1960s-1970s
Context: In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.
