In chapter two of Weinberger's, Too Big To Know, he illustrates the role and importance of facts throughout history. Weinberger discusses from what the ancients consider facts to what we use today to discover facts. Throughout the chapter, Weinberger is able to view the perspectives of great people of the past like the ancient greeks, Robert Thomas Malthus, Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin. He states that the ancients believed in a balance of their senses and of their bodies, if this was unbalanced they would become ill and possibly pass. Malthuss' opinion on facts were to look at the logical deduction to support his statements. Dickens believed that facts constrain creativity and imagination, it only allows for a black and white no space for gray area. Lastly, Darwin was able to reveal facts through the knowledge of his research and experimental studies. Later, Weinberger continues to explain that today we have trust in facts. Individuals don't have the time to investigate every single fact that they come upon, so they trust the credentials. The credentials being its publication. However, facts can be used in contrary with other facts. Throughout time facts have evolved, starting with the age of classic facts, to an age of database facts, to an age of networked facts. Knowledge will continue to evolve and facts will continue to serve different purposes.
According to Weinberger we put stopping points on knowledge because there is simply too much knowledge in the world to fully comprehend. Stopping points are the credentials we use to filter out information, so only reliable facts will get published. An encyclopedia is a very reliable source, therefore making it a stopping point. Once information is found in an encyclopedia the reader automatically deems it as a fact. However, when performing research on the internet we look for multiple sources to give us a common answer and then we stop once we deem the fact as credible. During ancient times though these commoners had a different perspective to what facts were. They believed in "humors" and that the body was able to connect with the environment in different ways. Each "humor" or "favor" was sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic. Each one of these was a part of a conceptual system of organs, bodily fluids, seasons of the year, astrological signs and treatments. Todays we knows these are false facts, but they help us today to understand the base of knowledge. The point that Weinberger is making by using Malthuss' book is to lead us to understand that facts are the building blocks to knowledge. Malthus first uses over generalizations to attempt to make arguments regarding population and food resources, this was very incredible. Eventually, Malthus is able to support his claims with statistical evidence and facts, thus making his claim more credible and helps realize that facts build up to knowledge. Another author that Weinberger includes in this chapter is Charles Dickens. Dickens is very skeptical of facts because he believes that they can take away from ones imagination. He continues this by explaining that, "Facts in blue books didn't reveal the truth." By this he means that in order to understand something you have to experience it, not just read about it in a book, thats where it loses its compassion. Other than Dickens point of view on facts there are also other forms of facts. Charles Darwin has developed facts through scientific observations and experiments, thus making his facts a very credible resource. While other facts, that make come from websites like hunch.com, aren't as valid. They aren't valid because they aren't developed through a scientific approach and tested. Even though these types of facts have their differences they also have a similar goal, to get conclusions. Whether its a credential one or not a conclusion is still obtained. There is a downside with having too many facts, this downside is caused by the internet allowing too many facts in one location. Most of the information is not credible and we can't assume that since its published online thats its as valid as it would be if it was published in a book. In life we have to perform our research, learn facts and not assume the knowledgeable internet to be the house of credibility.
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