Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Similar to the signal-to-noise ratio is the knowledge-to-opinion ratio. Watch for it.

sig·nal-to-noise ra·tio
noun

the ratio of the strength of an electrical or other signal carrying information to that of interference, generally expressed in decibels.

The signal-to-noise ratio used to be important to most of us. While riding in a car, we would “tune” (remember tuning a radio?) our AM or FM radio to a station. A little tweak this way or that would improve the signal-to-noise so that we could understand the song or the talker. Ah, the old analog days. Not so much anymore. Just click to the right satellite channel or enter the URL to the desired podcast and there we are.

Too bad most of us have lost the thought of the signal-to-noise ratio as it becomes more difficult to understand the knowledge-to-opinion ratio. We have confused knowledge and opinion, don’t know the difference between them, and therefore cannot find a ratio of them.

Here’s a tip: opinions come with adjectives. Notice a few adjectives? You are reading or hearing an opinion, not knowledge.

“Mr. so-and-so was in such-and-such city yesterday.” That is knowledge of Mr. so-and-so, such-and-such city, and the calendar.

That statement had no opinion, so the knowledge-to-opinion ratio is high.

“The dastardly Mr. so-and-so appeared in the otherwise peaceful such-and-such city yesterday, which is usually an observance of a wonderful day.”

See the adjectives? dastardly, peaceful, wonderful.

That second statement added opinion to the knowledge. Hence, the knowledge-to-opinion ratio is lower.

This is pretty simple. I would call it common sense, but such is not commonly practiced.