Reading the mainstream news can be instrumentally useful. For example, if you have invested money in the stock market, knowing what’s going on in the world can help you predict future trends. The fact that lot of the media is dominated by political squabbles doesn’t make reading about current events entirely worthless.
Yes, voted up. Surely any heuristic is bound to certain circumstances. I was just trying to pave the way towards a discussion on how not to be drowned by information that are useless, i.e. have no utility and do not help you to get what you want, but at the same time expose yourself to enough noise to stumble upon unknown unknowns that our collective intellect might convey.
Ah, I see. Hmm...perhaps we could divide the news into sections (sports, international, national, entertainment, op-ed, etc.) and try to estimate the utility of each section? Although I fear that the answer my be dependent on where you live.
Reading the mainstream news can be instrumentally useful. For example, if you have invested money in the stock market, knowing what’s going on in the world can help you predict future trends. The fact that lot of the media is dominated by political squabbles doesn’t make reading about current events entirely worthless.
SarahC already said so as well and I’ve actually stated the same in the OP:
I know. But I thought the stock market was a good example of why it’s important.
Yes, voted up. Surely any heuristic is bound to certain circumstances. I was just trying to pave the way towards a discussion on how not to be drowned by information that are useless, i.e. have no utility and do not help you to get what you want, but at the same time expose yourself to enough noise to stumble upon unknown unknowns that our collective intellect might convey.
Ah, I see. Hmm...perhaps we could divide the news into sections (sports, international, national, entertainment, op-ed, etc.) and try to estimate the utility of each section? Although I fear that the answer my be dependent on where you live.