{"id":52581,"date":"2021-11-13T17:02:30","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T22:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52581"},"modified":"2021-11-13T17:04:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T22:04:17","slug":"data-information-knowledge-insight-wisdom-and-conspiracy-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52581","title":{"rendered":"Data, information, knowledge, insight, wisdom, and Conspiracy Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The relationships among these different types of knowing has always been something that intrigued me.\u00a0 Now it's all spelled out diagrammatically:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" \/><\/a><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In trying to find out where this cartoon originated, I quickly learned that it is\u00a0<b>everywhere<\/b>, and that it has become a veritable meme, with countless modifications.<\/p>\n<p>The only apparent claim of ownership that I can find is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.redbubble.com\/i\/poster\/Conspiracy-Theory-by-hrbooms\/55436705.LVTDI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.redbubble.com\/i\/poster\/Conspiracy-Theory-by-hrbooms\/55436705.LVTDI&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0qq77kl5YJQ7aKNrqEiKkv\">here<\/a>.\u00a0 However, the claimant (\"The Channel Surfer\") doesn't explain whether \"designed by\" means that he\/she designed the image or merely 'designed' the poster by pasting the image onto it.<\/p>\n<p>Based on a reverse image search, the earliest version appears to be <a href=\"https:\/\/imgur.com\/t\/knowledge\/6K8GvyO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/imgur.com\/t\/knowledge\/6K8GvyO&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0b1JWBFsPchhOhqhfU-Y1O\">this Imgur post from Aug. 15, 2020<\/a>. That in turn was inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CAdFKU3A3nt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CAdFKU3A3nt\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1o_rmLzgiI3Nwe19f-Ka-m\">this image from Gaping Void<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CAdFKU3A3nt\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<div style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\"><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CAdFKU3A3nt\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by Gapingvoid CultureDesignGroup (@gapingvoid)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PhMai\/status\/1294978611653619712\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/PhMai\/status\/1294978611653619712&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Lo-IpSUhioPVKpgVrhB07\">This tweet<\/a>\u00a0shows how the meme evolved.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">An illustrative example of the organic growth of a meme and the spread of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/misinformation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#misinformation<\/a>. Panel 1 is the original from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gapingvoid?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@gapingvoid<\/a>, Panel 2 is their latest interpretation of their work. And panel 3 &amp; 4 is the internet being the internet: A &#x2665;&#xfe0f; of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/catpictures?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#catpictures<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ConspiracyTheory?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ConspiracyTheory<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Nya2befqJP\">pic.twitter.com\/Nya2befqJP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Philip Mai &#8211; Info Doesn't Put Itself In2 Practice. (@PhMai) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PhMai\/status\/1294978611653619712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Here are a bunch of additional examples:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data2.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data3.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data4.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data5.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/data5.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The bottom right variant of the penultimate panel (the same one with gradations of color that occurs in Gaping Void), even gets into the realm of colormaps and painbows, which we have recently been discussing on Language Log.<\/p>\n<p><b>Selected readings<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Data\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=20635\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D20635&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3WILSlP6Gu7T8L9-O1cmK2\">Data<\/a>\" (8\/10\/15)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to \" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=4396\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D4396&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3fsKPQONU4ClW_jVN8xOOS\">'The data are': How fetishism makes us stupid<\/a>\" (1\/1\/13)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to The Data Says \u2026\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=44785\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D44785&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3VXyhM0wxEiEcf43Us-ypr\">The Data Says \u2026<\/a>\" (10\/24\/19)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to The sparseness of linguistic data\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=11619\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D11619&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0WSwmp4cocvNmV-bbKCGPj\">The sparseness of linguistic data<\/a>\" (4\/7\/14)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Plural data\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=14970\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D14970&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3rFkkLVie-JG_evSj7Fv-z\">Plural data<\/a>\" (10\/3\/14)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Data vs. information\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=50164\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D50164&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2b_b6DI85zcV9c5At0blFZ\">Data vs. information<\/a>\" (2\/7\/21)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to \" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=51136\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D51136&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw26_hN2s9cwyG5wD3PSb4FC\">'This massive monster of incomprehensibility'<\/a>\" (6\/8\/21)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Painbows\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52504\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D52504&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1qccgfla9KUXItet-ik4pp\">Painbows<\/a>\" (11\/6\/21)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Better colormaps?\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D52540&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636825949852000&amp;usg=AOvVaw22wR1BT6jSjTU2FFHkYXuM\">Better colormaps?<\/a>\" (11\/9\/21)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[Thanks to Mark Metcalf and Ben Zimmer]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The relationships among these different types of knowing has always been something that intrigued me.\u00a0 Now it's all spelled out diagrammatically:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203,260,50,9,174,329],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language-and-art","category-language-and-philosophy","category-language-play","category-linguistics-in-the-funny-papers","category-logic","category-memes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52581"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52660,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52581\/revisions\/52660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}