Information isnt sterile . It stranger than you think .

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Excerpted from How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information by Thomas S. Mullaney with permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2026 by Thomas S. Mullaney. What is information? It’s a word we’ve become inured to—and unimaginative about. “How much information,” we ask, “can this hard drive store?” Or “The average person has more information at her fingertips than ever before,” we remark. Information, it would seem, is some kind of ethereal fluid, quantifiable like water or gasoline. Narrower still is our use of the term information technology. This phrase summons to mind devices…