Importance of “filters” has been over-stated. As my friend John Pederson puts it:
Managing your own filter is critical. The other kind of filter that lets things in vs. preventing things from coming in.
[From Dean Shareski on attention.]
A filter is a screen that keeps things out. My information problem isn’t solved by keeping things out. What I need is to bring the right things to me, and that’s different.
What I want is not a filter, but good editors that bring me the news that I need to see. These editors could be a staff of professionals, but there’s also a role for technology in bringing my news to me.
There are already several services that try to do this, but none of them is really as easy, ubiquitous, and natural as I would like them to be. WIll someone solve it?