The Information Diet

Part II. The Information Diet

To me, Ed had superpowers. Ed sat in the office next to me when I was working at the search engine company Ask Jeeves about a decade ago, and I was always envious of his ability to stay healthy. In my mind, Ed did some form of triathlon that involved riding a bicycle underwater while carrying a backpack filled with sharks, and did most of his work as a product manager for Jeeves’ business division while doing handstand push-ups. He is one of the healthier people I’ve met, and while his exercise regimen was part of it, it was his attitude about food that gave him his edge.

My favorite thing about Ed was his total contempt for carbohydrates. At lunch, if he managed to get served a biscuit as a side item for something he ordered, he’d scowl at that biscuit until it went away (usually by way of me) like it was some form of dirty filth that had invaded his tray.

That biscuit wasn’t there on his plate to tempt him. It was there to kill him: a little, fluffy, white, buttery enemy waiting to pounce at any moment. But did he throw away his biscuit? No. Then he wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on it, lest it try and escape. As though he was persistently testing his will, Ed would keep the biscuit on his desk to sit and grow stale as a frequent affirmation that he didn’t need that pile of empty carbs.

In the world of information, there are thousands of biscuits all around us waiting to be eaten. It’s up to us to choose whether to chow down or to stare at them with ...