Uninformed in the Information Age

I am…

feeling discombobulated as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on.

Living in Ontario, we all had to deal with the government’s failures to collect data and intelligently respond to outbreaks of this disease. And instead of increasing and bettering those efforts, the government decreased the data it was collecting.

And now people are treating the pandemic like it is over. Normal life has resumed, all protective measures are no longer in place and on we go.

But as of May 29, 2022 as I write this post, though the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital is declining, we still have more patients in hospital now, than many times before during the pandemic. If the pandemic is over, shouldn’t there be no patients in hospital with COVID-19?

I still mask in public indoor settings. But I notice I am in an ever decreasing minority. But this change in behaviour by society at large isn’t being driven by information. It’s solely personal opinion driven by emotional responses, a desire to return to normal. And I feel the pressure to give in, and stop wearing a mask. But my personality won’t allow it.

There are lots of independent, unofficial sources analyzing the data available and issuing warnings and notices. Which has sustained us throughout the pandemic, making up for gaps in government action, but they lack authority, and they lack the weight given by a consensus of experts issuing a report. There is no peer review, no checks and balances when relying on individuals as unofficial authorities.

And so I feel confused, adrift and conflicted. Growing up with computers and being employed in IT has taught me the value of gathering data, extracting information and informed decision making. I am constantly hounded in my profession to adopt AI analytical platforms to “improve business decision making.”

Living that contrast between the importance of informed decision making in the business community and the complete absence of it in the public policy sphere when lives are on the live during a deadly pandemic is…

…depressing. It is completely depressing.

Public policy is uninformed in the Information Age with uninformed voters marking their ballots in an election.

I can only conclude that ignorance is the preferred choice when critical decisions have to be made. The Information Age is a lie. Because my government and my society choose to be uninformed.