Finding Signal in Chaos
The amount of content being generated continues to grow.
A large percentage of them, I suspect, are derivatives: copies of copies.
So volume dilutes the value; but with volume also comes more potential signal.
If you're a Creator, having high-quality input is important; but taking that Consumption and turning into Creation with high throughput and high signal remains critical.
But when there's so much incoming, how does one find the signal?
The first thing is to increase consumption but at a compressed rate -- less time.
Instead of taking in 1 podcast or YouTube a day, it may mean 20-30, but in the same amount of time, or even less.
There's too much information, and the hard part is still the challenge of going deep versus having a survey.
But higher quality compression -- the CliffNotes of Everything -- may be essential for identifying unique signal.
I would argue that from there, finding the writers or content creators with extremely high nuance, detail, research would then warrant going for the Originals.
I think CliffNotes actually helps people understand going deep into Shakespeare, for example.
Which industries or professions need much more signal?
I think, in general, deep work in solitude ultimately produces the best outcomes. But original ideas and insights are hard.
The traditional way (and still legitimate) is deep work to take in deep content.
Deep, timeless works will trump fleeting, in the moment content.
But....some industries are fast moving, technical, emerging and chaotic.
These will need a constant feed of information to stay somewhat knowledgable.
And here's the key: regular "entertainment" based news, which I would say almost all of Podcasting and YouTubing basically is, is noise. It's meant to drive attention, not insight.
But, there are nuggets there.
How do you find such signal in the chaos?