Epistemic Uncertainty in the Era of Information Overload

Abstract

This academic article aims to study the uncertainty of knowledge in an era of information overload. The study finds that, in conditions where information flows continuously, in the absence of principles for critical evaluation, the use of information and knowledge tends to be dominated by bias, leading to erroneous processing and decision-making based on inaccurate information, affecting people’s beliefs and leading to negative social consequences. On the contrary, if information is carefully examined within an appropriate conceptual framework, the processing and utilization of information can help promote society, generate innovation beneficial to humankind and support social development under the principle of the rule of law. This article proposes an epistemologically flexible framework that integrates critical thinking and media literacy with the principles of the Kalama Sutta, the Three Characteristics, Yonisomanasikara, and mindfulness and communication ethics, supplemented with technological approaches for verifying the origin of media, to transform information overload into verifiable knowledge, reducing bias, misinformation, and fake news at both individual and societal levels.