219. The Era of Information Overload with David Shenk

Way back in the 90s, in the early days of my first startup, Netconcepts, I read a book that changed how I viewed the information technology revolution. It was called Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut. I never forgot that book. In fact, I recently looked up the author to see what he's up to these days. And what came out of that was well, this episode number 219. It's my pleasure to welcome to the show my guest today, David Shenk.  He's author not only of the book Data Smog, but many other books, including The End of Patience, The Genius in All of Us, The Immortal Game, and The Forgetting. His books covered topics as diverse as the history of Chess, Alzheimer's disease, and the Grateful Dead. David is also a filmmaker, and he's the creator and executive producer of the Living with Alzheimer's film project. He's a contributor to National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, the Atlantic, and many more.  David was ahead of his time; Data Smog nailed it as far as predicting the negative repercussions of living in an information-saturated world. On this wide-ranging episode, David and I discussed the effects of information overload, including his thoughts on the way it impacts politics and the environment. We also get into the nature of genius, genetics, and Alzheimer's. It's a fascinating episode with a fascinating guest. Enjoy!