UT Blog

I studied biology at the University of Tartu, first focusing more closely on the study of fish and later, fungi. Currently I am involved in research studies describing the biodiversity and regularities of fungi and also microbes. Biology does not have all the answers, but it is a prism that helps me better understand what is going on both in nature and with humans. In a very short time compared to the duration of evolution, essentially just over the last generation, we have become buried under an exponentially growing flood of information. However, all fast and great changes involve adaptation difficulties.

From jungle to the digital jungle

Screens of different forms are taking up an ever-increasing portion of our time and attention. Both the computer and the smartphone may be effective tools but they also open up an ocean of information in which everyone is fighting for our attention. The Homo sapiens has spent most of its evolutionary history living in small communities, where the accepted information was not only different in its amount but also in character: natural landmarks and footprints did not compete for our attention; hunters-gatherers had to be skilful to notice details that were necessary to make adequate decisions. Now the situation has turned 180 degrees – in the jungle of the web, each custom-designed title, banner, comment and thumbnail competes for an opportunity to plant their narrative into as many brains as possible. So it is no wonder that the fledgling Homo digitalis may get lost in the digital jungle more easily than the Homo sapiens in the real jungle. While for the Homo sapiens, the price of an error was empty stomach or danger to life, the Homo digitalis just risks a head full of rubbish, mental disorders and social division caused by polarisation. It is true that the most striking cases may also pose a threat to life and health.

Science and critical thinking

Those trying to find their way in the digital jungle may find critical thinking extremely helpful. Critical thinking has the same core features as the principles of simple scientific methodology. In this respect, it is hard to overestimate the role of the University of Tartu in my personal development story. The result is not just a black-and-white view of the world where all information is placed on a scale of verifiability, but a perception of my own subjectivity. Thereby it becomes clearer that subjectivity is one of the main human characteristics. I dare say that most narratives that people have and most memes that they spread describe just small fragments of reality, and describe it either incompletely or do not desribe it at all. On the contrary, the success of memes can be estimated according to their rate and range of circulation, and not whether they have anything to do with reality. What matters is that the meme speaks to the recipient.

At its most simplified, science can be defined as a discipline that applies methods to minimise subjectivity when describing reality.