Intuition, Reliability and the Information Age

So much is happening with so little time to grasp what is going on. In the new information age, the world consistently evolves, even when we as individuals may not. We are constantly bombarded with the "latest" which is said to be the greatest, but the jury is still out on that one! There is a new way to do everything in every aspect of our lives. It feels as if we are being pulled in the direction of the new information age thus, eliminating the familiar. Some of us are not ready to let go and are set in our ways. I guess one could consider it to be fear of the unknown or just plain information overload. As with anything, we must be able to distinguish between the good and bad. Regrettably some of us second-guess everything and others allow their intuition to guide them.

To Much Information (TMI)
There is a plethora of information available, however, it is questionable as to what is factual and/or reliable. With the onset of the Internet there is just too much information to sift through including the good and bad, accurate and inaccurate, objective and subjective with everything else mixed in between. Unfortunately due to the belief of "if it is on the Internet it must be true," some of us are misinformed. One wonders how so much spurious information made it to the World Wide Web. "Virtually every site on the Internet offers a different value of truth and reliability behind the information they offer. The reason for this inconsistency is due to the fact that there are no restrictions or necessary approvals prior to making a Web site's content accessible to the public. This gives every individual the capability of publishing information of any particular topic or interest, whether truthful or not, on the Internet" ( Brzynsk Inc., 2010) .

Reliability
"The American Society for Quality defines reliability as "The probability of a product's performing its intended function under stated conditions without failure for a given period of time" (Sift Information Security Services, 2008). "The Internet has had an enormous impact on the accessibility of Information. Many people are able to disperse information on the Internet and even many more are able to find information on the Internet"( Veeder,A. & Wachbroit, R., 2003) . The problem with the availability and accessibility of this information is that for the most part what is being presented has not been supported empirically, it tends to be subjective and/or blatantly untrue. Amongst the above-mentioned information there is empirically sound information and the challenge is to distinguish which information is which. It is like finding a needle in a haystack and can be a very difficult task. Depending on what type of information is being searched for, I would suggest that any information obtained from the internet be double checked and cross referenced for accuracy and it would help to check out the background of the author of the information at hand. Even in it's unreliability, there lies a bit of valuable information somewhere.
Do Not Totally Dismiss Unreliable Information
"Obviously, we want to use the best available, but when required to make decisions we must not disdain information just because it may not be adequately detailed or may contain errors"(Cornish 2004,p.3) Cornish believes that imperfect knowledge can prove to be useful. I am sure everyone has heard a rumor in his or her life. Rumors that circulate may not be 100% true, however, there is some part of it that is true. One can use common sense when analyzing what they hear or take the information that may be of use from what they hear. It would not be wise to ignore rumors or poor information (p.3) all together because there may be some value to it. In such situations, we must put on our thinking caps when dealing with second hand and/or inaccurate information. Depending on the situation in which the unreliable information is being used, our intuition may kick into high gear thus letting us know that something is just not right about it. It would be up to the individual to decide if they are going to go with their gut feeling and what is of value to them at the time.
There is Something to Be said About Intuition
What is there to be said about intuition? There are more questions than answers. We get this unsettling feeling out of nowhere, that sometimes is an indication that something isn't right. We don't know what it is but it just doesn't feel right. It's hard to put your finger on it but your gut knows. Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer, a social psychologist and the director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin describes a gut feeling as, "It's a judgment that is fast. It comes quickly into a person's consciousness. The person doesn't know why they have this feeling. Yet, this is strong enough to make an individual act on it. What a gut instinct is not is a calculation. You do not fully know where it comes from" (Dreifus, C., 2007). In the new information age your intuition will kick in when something is not right or perhaps when danger is lurking. There is no way to tell when that feeling is coming on, it is suddenly there. Who knows when and what it will be?

Intuition, Reliability and the Information Age
"Intuition plays a central role in everyday decision making. Often, when presented with a decision, we have an intuitive sense that one alternative is better than others without being able to report our reasons for feeling so (Westbrook, 2009)." It is that sense that will possibly guide and assist in making the right decision. There is more information than ever to sift through. We must not lose sight that many non-experts are creating websites and making lots of questionable information available to the optimistic, yet, inexperienced eye. There must make a conscious effort to confirm its validity. In Mind Set! 3 Naisbitt talks about the dilemma of the non-expert (p.27). "Who and what are we to believe " (Naisbitt, 2006)? Depending on our current need, we must research the information obtained. Then there may be some moments that we are not sure how to act on the information obtained and that may be the moment that our senses tells us that something is very right or wrong and/or to proceed or not to proceed. It is up to us to listen to our intuition and decide if we are going to act on it. According to Naisbitt (2006) the consequences of our relationship with technology are not given much consideration and questions need to be asked (p. 101).
My Personal Experience and Opinion about Intuition and Unreliability
Below I listed a few examples of situations that drove my intuition into overdrive. This list is far from exhaustive.
• When it comes to conducting personal business on the Internet such as opening email only to find a message saying that my chase credit card password should be updated with instructions to "click here." Instead I will go straight to the Chase site and log in.
• When selling items on craigslist I would never meet anyone alone.
• I will not post my whereabouts and updating my status online, it can be dangerous. Just saw a story on the news where a person posted her updates only to have her house robbed by one of her Facebook friends.
• I will never list my birthday anywhere on a social networking site, too much identity theft.
• I used a search engine to look for a Contractor and I am aware that the top companies that pop up may not be legit or the best companies. Not saying they aren't, however, there is that possibility because anyone can purchase advertising space for their business.
• Opinion v. fact--why question the sincerity of someone's convictions when it is the validity of their conclusions that is of concern. I check every source of information that I use.
• I heard an attorney on news talk radio give this advice. He said that if one receives an email that appears to be spam from a random website that says, "to unsubscribe, click here" don't do it. The attorney says to delete it and that it is a phishing scam to verify that the hacker has your correct email address. Why would you unsubscribe if it is not really you? I would have never thought of that one!
Further, I would like to share a personal email that I received in the last couple of days. My gut said that something is very wrong here.
Greetings Mercedes Lipscomb
We have checked your resume on human resources company site. We would like to offer you a vacancy of Finance Observer. Our company is working with major European and Asian financial companies. We provide consulting services in drafting contracts, business plans, etc and deal with Internet advertisement. At present moment, due to great demand in material processing our company is seeking for Fn Copywriter.
Requirements for position:
'¢ Excellent possession of written English
'¢ Age: 25+
'¢ U.S. Citizenship
2-3 hour work shift a day
Responsibilities of :
'¢ Documents correction
'¢ writing texts based on source material
'¢ correct task execution
The salary for this position is $5,000-$9,000 per month. We will hire a person after execution of the test task. If you pass the task successfully, a job agreement will be signed.
If you are interested in this position please provide us with your CV, our human resource department will contact you within two days.
Yours sincerely,

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This email is far from credible and is a scam, however, there are many people who would have been fooled by this. My reasons for sharing is to emphasize that we must all be careful when dealing with information. Although the offer is attractive, something remains very wrong.
Overall, we as a society are bombarded with information from every which way we turn. We must keep in mind that there is too much information out there and we must be conscientious about questioning the reliability of the information available. Also, according to Cornish (2004) unreliable information may prove to have some level of value, therefore, we should not totally dismiss it. Finally, I am sure that everyone has had an experience when their intuition has kicked in but they are not sure why. This is when we will decide to go with or against our intuition. Whatever the decision, always learn from your past experiences.

References
Brzynsk Inc. (14 May 2010). The Reliability of Online Information "knowledge is power." [website]. Retrieved from http://www.uri.edu/students/bmal5780/Index.html

Dreifus, C. (2007 August 28). Through Analysis, Gut Reaction Gains Credibility. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28conv.html

Naisbitt, J. (2006) Mind Set! Reset your thinking and see the future. NY:
HarperCollins Publishers.

Sift Information Security Services.(2008 Jan 19). Future of the Internet (FOTI) Project Reliability of the Internet Version 1.00-Final. Retrieved from www.dbcde.gov.au/__data/.../FOTI-Reliability-FinalReport.pdf

Veeder,A. & Wachbroit, R. (2003) Reliability of the Information on the Internet: Some Distinctions. Ethics and Information Technology, 5,211-215. Retrieved from http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=14203

Westbrook, A. (2009). Intuition in Decision Making. Retrieved from http://www.unc.edu/courses/2009spring/psyc/433/001/tutorials/westbrook.doc