Tim DraperFounder and Managing Partne, Draper Associate · I back the ideas that look crazy first

Jeremy Kirshbaum on humanity's greatest challenge

1 Jul 2016 · 1 min

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This content was created by Tim Draper. This content was uploaded by Tim Draper. This is a YouTube video titled "Jeremy Kirshbaum on humanity's greatest challenge" (published July 1, 2016) containing a short monologue by Jeremy Kirshbaum. The speaker discusses information overload as one of humanity's next major challenges, describing the shift from information scarcity to abundance, the tendency for people to gravitate toward simplistic narratives when overwhelmed, and the need for iterative, flexible approaches to process information without becoming paralyzed.

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I think that one of humanity's next greatest challenges in the next decade is going to be how to make sense of the vast amounts of information that we have available now. The problem used to be accessing information and how to get enough of it, and now the problem is actually the opposite. We have too much, and it's scary, and it's confusing. And in times like this, when people feel overwhelmed and feel confused, they gravitate toward simplistic narratives and people that seem like they have an easy answer. So it's actually not a problem that I would solve at all. I think that jumping to solutions is going to be the problem itself. Being able to iteratively look at information and be able to be flexible to new information without taking on so much that you become overwhelmed or paralyzed is going to be the key to facing this challenge and not getting overwhelmed by it.