Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

This is the key to information—what separates just more data from something that enables a good choice.

Of course we all want to find this. This is the stuff of basic science that most of us understand.

Let’s walk through a silly example:

• I am gaining weight. Why?
• I eat 12 hot dogs every Saturday

Eating hot dogs on Saturday doesn’t make me overweight. Eating 12 hot dogs does. It is the quantity of the hot dogs, not the day of the week is the difference that makes a difference.

Or then again, maybe it is the composition of hot dogs that makes a difference.

Did I mention that I eat a gallon of ice cream every weekday evening before going to bed? Perhaps it is the ice cream. Perhaps it is the time of day. Perhaps…

Everyone can see that, right? I guess not given the mess of the world we have. That is, the world is so complex and there is such much information and I am overwhelmed and didn’t sleep well last night and really didn’t read the above clearly and…

What difference does it make?