Intelligence Gathering, Uncertainty, and Information

In order to understand the world, circumstances within it, problems within our nation or society, and finding solutions and avenues to approach those problems, the gathering, processing, and analysis of information is essential.

 The word intelligence just means "knowing." It is the knowledge about the world and the affairs within it a person or agency has gathered over the course of time.

 Naturally, gathering information is the primary function of intelligence agencies and groups involved with national security. 

I'm going to talk about how the two primary forms of information (abstract Information and Concrete information) pertain to intelligence gathering, as well as how the concept of uncertainty is applied to the two different types of information. 

    Concrete information is the physical, measurable, substantial information that makes up our physical world. Being aware of concrete information primarily deals with being alert and aware of the physical world and your immediate physical surroundings. Every human with intact senses has a field of awareness that reaches as far as the senses that deal with objects more distant in space (sight and sound) can detect.  Out of your line of sight and field of hearing, uncertainty begins to play a significant role in the environment. 

 You just don't always know what is outside your field of awareness. Sometimes, depending on your mental state or substances you may have ingested, even the senses that make up your field of awareness can be made to be distorted or inaccurate, but for a sober mind, what's in your field of awareness usually has a pretty high degree of certainty of its reality. 

      Abstract information operates differently in regards to intelligence gathering. Abstract information is any information that isn't completely physical, like ideas and ideologies, or information about the world that is absorbed through a secondary source rather than direct observation, like written words and articles or any particular form of media.  

Abstract information always has a significant degree of uncertainty. Uncertainty is pretty much an inescapable component of abstract information. With uncertainty comes room for deception and distortion, and a particular degree of uncertainty of certain abstract information can leave room for deniability of its very existence. 

 This is always a problem with abstract information. To overcome this, you need coherent analysis and confirmation of the reliability of information from multiple sources and multiple perspectives, and the development of a consensus on the relative truth or accuracy of the information provided. 

    Both falsifiability and provability can be difficult with certain abstract information, in particular the information pertaining to belief systems like religions or political ideologies. Naturally these are shrouded in uncertainty (until some are tested and found to be applicable or inapplicable to the real world) and so there still remains levels of deniability, unfalsifiability, and unprovability in regards to much of this abstract information.  

However, coming to an understanding of what a person or group of people believes isn't always difficult, but validating the truth and applicability of the belief systems can be difficult. Many people are  generally vocal and open to a degree about their beliefs and ideas. 

    Because of the degree of uncertainty involved, processing and analyzing abstract information is often one of the challenging components of intelligence gathering.

 Uncertainty pervades all of existence. Because each individual is an isolated consciousness, distinct from every other individual and has a limited field of awareness, uncertainty about reality to a degree is inescapable for every human being. Our minds can't process the sheer volume and scope of the complex systems in our world and in our universe. We can't even process every component of what is even in that field of awareness that our senses are detecting. The sheer volume of information is unprocessable to precision and in perfect detail by our minds.

 This fact means there will always be gaps and voids within the information we gather in our world. It also depends on our intelligence level and mental functionality as well. Different people are on different levels when it comes to intelligence and awareness. 

Uncertainty may be inescapable, but consensus on truth, reliability, and applicability of information is possible and may be able to help cut through the uncertainty and reduce its intensity and scope

 This is one of the core objectives of intelligence gathering and analysis.