Concept
Postman’s term for a structure invented to give decontextualized information the appearance of a use it does not really have. The information may be true and accurately measured, but it has been stripped of the context that connected it to action; pseudo-context — the news quiz, trivia, conversation-fodder — papers over the gap. Distinct from manufactured content, which never measured anything: pseudo-context is real information made idle.
Connections
- Defined in: Where It All Gets Fucked Up
- Discussed in: Ch 6 — Where It All Gets Fucked Up, Ch 5c — Truth, Compression, and When Each Wins
- Evidenced by: Amusing Ourselves to Death
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