"Your new challenge isn't finding the insight - it's filtering out the noise." - Futurist Jim Carroll
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Futurist Jim Carroll is writing his end-of-2025 / introduction-to-2026 series, 26 Principles for 2026. You can follow along at 2026.jimcarroll.com. He welcomes your comments.
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It used to be that the problem with the information age was that there was too
much information.
That's changed.
The new problem is now that not only is there too much information, but much of it is crap. And pretty soon, most of it is going to be crap.
That means one of the most important skills you need to develop in the information age is how to sift through the noise, to find what really matters.
Finding the gold amidst the crap matters.
Simply put, enhancing your ability to weed out reality from unreality, facts from the unfactual, the gems amidst the wreckage - this is what will move you forward into the future.
All of us are on a unique voyage into this strange new world, and as I often like to say: "We don't know where we are going, but we are making great time!'" In a world of infinite noise, the ultimate competitive advantage is not what you pay attention to. It is what you choose to ignore.
We are on Day 21. You have stripped away the mediocrity (Day 17), embraced the chaos (Day 18), built your options (Day 19), and upgraded your network (Day 20). Now, we must upgrade your eyes.
Now we need to think about Signal Intelligence: aka the art of ignoring in order to see. Success no longer depends on acquiring more information. It depends on ruthlessly filtering noise.
The Great Information Inversion: From Scarcity to Exhaustion
Let's put this challenge into perspective.
For decades, the world of learning and knowledge was simple: Information was scarce, so the strategy was accumulation. In a business context, the leader with the most reports won; the researcher with the deepest research team had the advantage; and the individual who mastered speed-reading had a leg up on everyone.
Then the Internet emerged, and we all began to learn about the strange new world of vast sums of electronic information. We taught ourselves to search. Then, as the volume of information grew, we began to graze. Finally, we began to rapid-scan.
The "new reality" with AI now takes us into a world that is crazier than we think. The global datasphere is experiencing a form of exponential growth that defies human intuition. It isn't just "more data," it is a fundamental change in the density of our digital atmosphere.
This means that the challenge isn't finding insight anymore.
It's filtering the overwhelming flood of synthetic noise to avoid exhaustion.
Learn more.
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**#Signal** **#Noise** **#Filtering** **#Intelligence** **#Attention** **#Verification** **#Clarity** **#Synthetic** **#Focus** **#Discernment**
Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/12/decoding-tomorrow-mastering-2026-21-signal-intelligence-your-new-challenge-isnt-finding-the-insight-its-filtering-out-the-noise/
