Slippery Slope: Span

[ebacon]

Originally Posted by Pio1980

Information overload vs depth of substance?

That might be a good characterization of what I am trying to get at.

The day I wrote I was trying to digest the value of making mountains of molehills. We all do it. So why do we do it? Why did nature program us this way? It must serve a function.

The word "span", as I used it, refers to how big a signal an instrument can record. Old scientists therefore had to choose from the beginning whether they would look at mountains or mole hills. Both were interesting, but each scientist had to pick one.

Advancements in measuring, in particular big data, seem to have shifted focus to mountains. In that context it is the mountains that get attention -- the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Macroeconomics.

But as we argue politics it seems that we are really arguing about mole hills. We are trying to communicate our local frustrations, such as water drainage, store closures, drifting odors, etc, to a national audience. Nobody in the audience really gives a damn about anyone else's mole hills.

I am having a mole hill appreciation moment.