John: We’ve covered a lot of ground today, so before I release you from your contractual obligations, let’s talk about what we went over.
Mercury: You should know by now that I’m always up for a conversation. And my followers are waiting with anticipation for me to return to the information world. I owe them an Instagram post on my morning.
John: [rolls eyes] I’m sure they can hold it together another few minutes. But you well know that the average adult needs to hear something three times before they retain it.
Mercury: Indeed, I do. Hopefully your readers will remember some of this and my time won’t be a complete waste.
John: Basically, you’re the information manager of the Zodiac.
Mercury: Yes, I am the Chief Information Officer of this collection of planets. Information is everything!
John: Our communicative ability and style is heavily influenced by your position in our respective charts.
Mercury: Absolutely! When I’m in Gemini and Virgo I’m in my strongest positions—meaning the places where the information can flow most easily—and I have a tougher time in Sagittarius and Pisces.
John: I noticed that you didn’t use the terms “best” or “worst” for these particular positions. Can you explain why you did that?
Mercury: Isn’t it obvious? In signs where I’m strong, it’s just that: Powerful. But powerful doesn’t mean better. I encourage all your readers to find out where Mercury is in their charts and take what they find as impressions, themes, and ideas to think about.
John: It’s good that you said that, because people do tend to take things very personally.
Mercury: And by now you know that I do not. It’s so easy to find out where I was when a person was born, too. Type in “free astrology chart” in your search engine of choice, plug in your data, and voila! A chart will appear. If you’re not sure what I look like, ummm…John, could you put a Mercury symbol somewhere on here?
John: Already done. And they already know to look near the Sun.
Mercury: Yes, knowing that will help! I can’t go more than 28 degrees from the Sun, so I’m always hanging close to the boss.
John: That does make it easier to find you quickly. [consults iPad] We had quite a list of things for your job—communication, memory, reason, logic, comprehension, and languages, to name just a few.
Mercury: Correct. I’m a very versatile planet and if it involves the human brain, likely you’ll want to look to me.
John: There’s a question that has been bothering me.
Mercury: Well, an unasked question won’t help your readers. Shoot!
John: We’re constantly talking about the word “fact” these days, and whether or not things are “true”. Can you shed some light on this dilemma?
Mercury: Definitely. A fact is a piece of information that can be independently verified. That’s my domain. But I want to make something clear: I’m not the “big picture view” in the interpretation of those facts.
John: No, because you don’t do the “big picture”. You’re a small picture planet.
Mercury: Well said! Let me give you an example. If you watch the news—and I’m guessing the vast majority of you are sitting at home doing just that these days—they try to present the facts. And in the early days of journalism, they did just that. You can easily say “The average cost of home ownership was X dollars a year ago but is now Y dollars.” The organization who compiled the data crunched the numbers to come up with the final figures that the journalist presents. Clear so far?
John: Yes, it is. Please continue!
Mercury: That’s very much my area. They took X group of homeowners and collected data to come to their conclusion, based on their hopefully logical methodology for the study.
John: I think that’s sensible.
Mercury: Yes. People draw conclusions based on information constantly in their day to day lives, usually without even realizing it! Now comes the more difficult question: Is the information about average home ownership true?
John: [hesitates] If a news organization I trust puts it out, I’d be inclined to say yes.
Mercury: And you wouldn’t be wrong at all. The vast majority of people do that. Where you humans start to run into trouble is the how and the purpose of presenting the information.
John: Fascinating! Most humans don’t think that way.
Mercury: But they have the ability! Critical thinking is also my job. Remember that part of what I do is make people curious.
John: If I understand you correctly, what you’re saying is that you provide the information as well as the ability to evaluate it to determine if it is true or false for ourselves?
Mercury: PRECISELY! A lot of people don’t take that second step, but it’s very much my job, too.
John: But let’s go back to the how and purpose. Tell us what you mean by that.
Mercury: How you present your facts is almost as important as the facts themselves. I prefer all the information on the table so people can—you guessed it—determine the solution for themselves. Remember on standardized tests how they added an answer that was something like, “I don’t have enough information to determine the answer”?
John: YES! I was so pissed about that. You really had to know what you were doing, because it made you ask yourself that important question each time. That was you?
Mercury: John, lots of people blame me for lots of things, but I own this one completely. It reinforces the how because you will draw different conclusions based on what information that test designer includes. And as an aside, that’s why word problems are one of my favorite things on the planet.
John: This will conjure up a lot of unpleasant test-taking memories from my readers, to be sure. So what’s your point?
Mercury: If you present an incomplete picture, anyone looking at it will draw inaccurate conclusions. And that brings me to my second point: The purpose, or how and why the information is used. People will often leave out information to support their egos or avoid unpleasantness, as well as to fulfill their particular agenda. Even that word—agenda—gives people pause because it just sounds nefarious. But I want to ensure your readers know that I provide the information only.
John: To be clear, you’re the Chief Information Officer but you’re not the analyst?
Mercury: No, I’m an analyst for certain. But larger and more abstract ideas, agendas, and long-term goals are not in my wheelhouse. Those are all big-picture concepts, and I’m the day-to-day kind of guy. People use the information for their own purposes, and that’s not my concern; that's where the word truth gets fuzzy, and it can often indicate someone's opinion and not actual, factual analysis.
John: So the information is what it is, but any opinion provided above and beyond a basic, empirical data analysis is not your job?
Mercury: Correct. Please don’t edit that part out of this interview. I’m a powerful planet but most people don’t use me to my fullest extent. [pauses] Are we almost done?
John: Actually, I think we ARE done, if we’re being precise. [chuckles]
Mercury: [nods] I see what you did there. Touché!
John: Don’t forget your electronics.
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