Information has helped humans to change the course of nature, track the stars, and shape the course of history. However, the power of information needs a favourable environment to flourish. Without the conceptual and intellectual framework as well as the channels that allow people to assimilate, process, and apply a specific datum of information to a specific situation, the information is useless (Jha, 2014). The internet is the broadest information source across the globe. In the film Back To The Future, a teenager travels back in time and uses information about the future to make positive changes to events before they happen. A time traveller who had access to the internet would have been a major force in creating history, as we know it.
In a new version of Back To The Future, the protagonist leaves the contemporary world and revisits the events that unfolded during the American Revolution. For instance, during Paul Revere’s heroic midnight ride, two factors come into play that made him more effective than the other riders, including Samuel Prescott and William Dawes. Primarily, he had valid information about an imminent attack and was in a position to act on the information. This factor was common to all the midnight riders that rode out to caution their colleagues about the impending attack. Revere’s role as an information broker also ensured that he was widely immortalized as a hero of the Industrial Revolution while the other riders faded into obscurity was his role as an (Uzzi & Dunlap, 2005). While working as a silversmith, Paul Revere created networks with people in all the outlying villages and towns. Such connections ensured underlined his position as a credible messenger; therefore, his warnings were taken more seriously, especially when compared to other lesser-known riders. Our time travelling protagonist would have the task of approaching Revere, convincing him of the genuineness of information about the future that he had as well as helping him create a path through specific villages where Paul’s influence was strongest.
The power of information was evident during the Industrial Revolution when humanity was able to tap into the forces of nature and direct them to the wheels of industry. A towering giant of the time who openly declared the need for greater access to information was Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was an industrialist, philanthropist, pioneer, and visionary. He arrived in the United States as the son of an impoverished Scottish immigrant and was able to grow into one of the wealthiest men across the globe. He credits his success to hard work as well as access to timely information. As a young man, Carnegie was a voracious reader, and would often spend hours in the Colonel James Anderson library after working twelve-hour shifts. Research indicates that by modern dollar standards, the wealth of Carnegie at its height would surpass those of Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder (Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2015). Our time travelling protagonist would have the task of befriending Carnegie with the aim of instilling in him the desire to access and use information. A possible strategy would be to perform a card trick that the protagonist had seen in YouTube, and offer to teach it to the immigrant boy if he was able to find a specific datum of information within 24 hours. This would set the eager mind of the immigrant boy along the path to greatness, driven by enthusiasm and curiosity. The protagonist could later organize a meeting between the colonel and Andrew while also engineering events to ensure that they become reliable friends, thereby enabling Carnegie to have ready access to the colonel’s library.
Indeed, information has the power to change events, depending on its application. In the case of the American Revolution, Paul Revere’s networks provided invaluable systems of dissemination information, thereby leading to the establishment of effective defense systems against the British military’s offensive. In regards to Andrew Carnegie, his ability to access, assimilate, and use information enabled him to create a vast business empire that made him one of the wealthiest people in recent history. Information is a vital element of past, present, and future events.
Reference
Carnegie Corporation of New York (2015). Andrew Carnegie’s story. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Jha, A. (June 2014). Without Shannon’s information theory there would have been no internet. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jun/22/shannon-information-theory
Uzzi, B. & Dunlap, S. (December 2005) how to build your network. Harvard business review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2005/12/how-to-build-your-network
