I’m sitting in an office with large windows overlooking the skyscrapers across the street. Through the clean, sunlit glass, I see people in suits and business attire working hard, each contributing in their own way to the growth of the company they belong to.
Whether it’s a large corporation or a small service studio, the reality is the same:
people produce, seek, and exchange information.
We do it through words, writing, and actions.
It was at that moment that I heard a knock on the door.
“Come in!” I said.
The door opened, and a woman entered—someone I would later learn was named Mara.
She was an elderly lady, likely over sixty, very thin, with large hollow eyes and clearly tattooed eyebrows.
She wore an outfit I still cannot fully describe—somewhere between a long dress and unusually wide trousers.
That older woman was the boss. She stood silently for a few seconds before saying:
“You need to gather information about these people.”
Information
Information is everything.
Having the right information at the right time means being able to use it to your advantage.
The entire strategy of our lives is based on information.
Our choices, thoughts, and plans all stem from the information we acquire.
But information alone is not enough.
It needs to be accurate.
If the information is wrong, the decisions that follow are likely to be wrong as well.
Wrong Information
Sometimes wrong information comes from our own misunderstanding or superficial interpretation of what our senses perceive.
A decision made from a flawed assumption is ultimately our responsibility.
But not all inaccurate information is due to our own mistakes.
Often, the information we receive is deliberately wrong, designed to make us fail.
This is common in business environments.
Every nation has intelligence units; information has long been considered the fourth power of the state.
Secret services acquire information from adversaries and release false information to mislead them.
History is full of wars won or lost because of information—its accuracy, its interpretation, its encryption.
Businesses work the same way: competitors often invest in acquiring details about how you work, your projects, your strategies.
There have always been attempts to insert paid personnel among employees—or even executives—of rival companies to extract information useful against the target organization.
And beyond espionage lies counter-espionage: feeding competitors intentionally misleading information to push them toward costly mistakes that can even endanger their survival.
The Consequences of Information
Every aspect of life hinges on information.
Many suicides have been triggered by true or false information.
Many murders—and many successes—also originate from it.
Life and death often depend on information.
The beliefs of an entire population can be shaped through controlled streams of information, commonly known as “campaigns.”
These are carefully coordinated operations designed to present specific information to a target audience in order to provoke a specific reaction.
“Counter-information” serves the opposite purpose: providing alternative or opposing content to neutralize or reverse the intended effects of the first campaign.
Paying Attention to Information
From a young age, we should learn to develop a critical mindset—one that examines the information we receive, evaluates it, and accepts it only after personal verification.
Acting on unverified information can be dangerous.
But who verifies information?
Only we do.
We cannot blindly trust “official” external fact-checkers; they may be influenced or compromised.
We can only rely on our own ability to analyze and verify, on the habit of not accepting something as true merely because someone says so through a seemingly reliable channel.
The Information We Give Away
Our mind must be trained to filter information based on experience and continuous reflection.
Sometimes it is even necessary to “bluff”—to share selective or misleading information to protect ourselves or our privacy.
Too often we give away information about ourselves.
Our phones, our home devices, cameras, digital assistants—all constantly collect data from our daily lives, often with our unwitting consent.
At a restaurant, everyone at the table has a smartphone.
Somewhere across the ocean, at least one database knows where you are, who you’re with, what you’re talking about, and what you’re eating.
Through credit cards, it knows what you paid, where you’re going next, whether you split up or stay together, how many kilometers you travel, and with whom.
All this information about your life is given away in exchange for a few conveniences you believe you cannot live without.
But in exchange for what?
How do you counter this information gathering?
You don’t.
You have placed yourself in a position that can one day be used against you.
And you have no escape as long as you continue to let these “eyes” and “ears” collect data about your every breath.
Those who collect your information are unknown to you.
They are likely not even the ones who originally obtained it.
You may have unknowingly signed away permission for it to be sold to companies—or even foreign states.
In exchange for what?
This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)
