Concepts are fundamental in the hyperinformation society and to deal with them critically is crucial to personal and professional growth, but being overwhelmed is an infallible recipe for failure and frustration. The purpose of this rant is to reassure the reader that it’s not our fault! - we are just experiencing the symptoms of hyperinformation, and we can achieve at least an ‘honorable draw’ and some peace of mind if we learn more about the nature of the threat.

1. Bloody Concepts War

2. “The Rosseaus, Marxes,
Tolstois — men of
thought, mind you,
‘impractical’ men,
‘idealist’ have done
more to decide the food
you eat and the things
you think + do than all
the millions of
Roosevelts and
Rockerfellars.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/24/f-
scott-fitzgerald-responds-to-hate-mail/

3. Concepts are
“...mere abstractions
from what is known
through intuitive
perception...".
A. Schopenhauer,
(Parerga and
Paralipomena).

4. Concepts determine the most
important human behaviors and their
social and economic developments,

5. ... as well as the drive of technological innovation,
artistic and political movements, religions, media
and corporation management and marketing.

6. Strong concepts, in the right place at the
right time, make the ideas pop in our minds,

7. … triggering major changes in
the directions of civilization.

8. Democracy, socialism, colonization,
nationalism, zionism, orientalism,
self-determination, fundamentalism…
have sparked wars and revolutions.

9. Multiculturalism, sustainability,
dilution of national borders,
failed states, among others, will
cause unpredictable changes...

10. … while in daily businesses, cloud
computing, branding, outsourcing,
trendwatching, social networks,
biotechnology, micro-payments,
long tail, remote work...

11. … are causing drastic economic
shifts and disruptions in business
models (disruption is in itself a
new and scary concept).

12. Due to its abstract rational nature,
it is often difficult to understand
the complex structures and scopes
of conceptual construction.

13. Fortunately designers
are here to help us,

14. … though sometimes even the most
talented among them can’t do it!

15. Concepts wish making you see the
world in a different way - their way!

16. They compete in value,
urgency and innovation in the
different social dimensions;

17. ... sometimes they overlap - partially
or completely, they try to be elastic,
and at the same time definitive;

18. … form a complex hierarchy where
major concepts subordinate the
weaker ones in contention for
ideological segments and markets;

19. … strongly disputing a good place
under the sun, or rather into
people's brains and pockets.

20. Behind them are the interests of corporations,
universities, publishing groups, nations and churches,

21. … backed by their squads of journalists,
economists, authors, consultants,
artists, scientists, historians etc..

23. The dominant concepts compose the
socio-economic-cultural framework
reflecting the power structure of society;

24. … and for the ‘authors’, to establish a winning
concept is a straight way to fortune and glory.
(*) Jim O´Neil, ‘inventor’ of BRICs, in 2002

25. Collateral effects

26. Concepts, as sophisticated
articulators of language,
are essential to human
development as we know it,

27. … but the competition between
them for people’s attention and
adoption can have devastating
side effects on our lives:

28. … We get confused and anxious, intolerant,
paranoid, bigoted and even violent, among
other psychological damages due to
excessive and indiscriminate consumption
of these cocktails of ideas...

29. … that sometimes are selfish, manipulative,
contradictory - intrinsically or among themselves
- and eventually malicious and untrue.

30. Sign of the times

31. The emergence of the Internet is at
the heart of the matter: its speed
and multifaceted ‘many-to-many’
architecture enables a frantic and
chaotic conceptual diffusion.

32. Despite the apparent formal order
within its tags, indexes and lists, web
design serves better the www than
ordinary people's mental balance.

33. Servers, cloud engines and infrastructure make
the web a bloody global UFC arena where only
the strongest or most clever concepts triumph.

34. For content producers the web is like a
gigantic ideological supermarket since a
huge amount of information is needed to
fill the channels that multiply non-stop.

35. But for the consumer, alas, the
internet looks more like an all-
you-can-eat restaurant,

36. … could result in a cerebral indigestion!

37. Concepts, how to use

38. Concepts are fundamental in the
hyperinformation society and to deal
with them critically is crucial to
personal and professional growth,

39. … but being overwhelmed
is an infallible recipe for
failure and frustration.

40. The purpose of this rant is to
reassure the reader that it’s not our
fault! - we are just experiencing the
symptoms of hyperinformation,

41. … and we can achieve at least an
‘honorable draw’ and some peace
of mind if we learn more about the
nature of the threat.

42. For those who like tips, here are
some simple ones from my personal
experience and reflections:

43. 1- The collector
Adopt routinely concepts that will
help you view and sense a more
coherent world;

44. 2- The wheat and the tares
Compare new concepts with the
previously adopted - if they seem
contradictory dispose one of them;

45. 3- When less is more
Never ‘buy’ concepts on impulse,
after all, not always the free
comes cheap;

46. 4- We are all designers
Draw the structure that better
organizes your selection - could be in
shape of tree, flowchart, mind map...

47. 5- Wall Street
Concepts only make sense in a
hierarchy - in our era, almost always
subordinated to ‘capitalism’;

48. 6- Perpetual motion
Review and rearrange your concept
collection constantly, always
considering coherence as its north.

49. Good Luck
www.eitanrosenthal.com