The Age Of Information Lyrics - Momus

This is a public service announcement 

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now entering 

The age of information 

It's perfectly safe 

If we all take a few basic precautions 

May I make some observations? 

Axiom 1 for the world we've begun: 

Your reputation used to depend on 

What you concealed 

Now it depends on what you reveal 

The age of secretive mandarins who creep on heels of tact is dead: 

We are all players now in the great game of fact instead 

So since you can't keep your cards to your chest 

I'd suggest you think a few moves ahead 

As one does when playing a game of chess 

Related 

18 Non-Traditional Yet Perfect Wedding Songs 

Listen To Taylor Swift's New Song 'Call It What You Want' 

Watch Sam Smith And Fifth Harmony Join James Corden For Carpool Karaoke 

Axiom 2 to make the world new: 

Paranoia's simply a word for seeing things as they are 

Act as you wish to be seen to act 

Or leave for some other star 

Somebody is prying through your files, probably 

Somebody's hand is in your tin of Netscape magic cookies 

But relax: if you're an interesting person 

Morally good in your acts 

You have nothing to fear from facts 

Axiom 3 for transparency: 

In the age of information the only way to hide facts 

Is with interpretations, there is no way to stop the free exchange 

Of idle speculations 

In the days before communication privacy meant staying at home 

Sitting in the dark with the curtains shut unsure whether to answer the phone 

But these are different times, now the bottom line 

Is that everyone should prepare to be known 

Most of your friends will still like you fine 

Photos 

X said to Y what A said to B 

B wrote an E-mail and sent it to me 

I showed C and C wrote to A: 

Flaming world war three 

Cut, paste, forward, copy 

CC, go with the flow 

Our ambition should be to love what we finally know 

Or, if it proves unloveable, simply to go 

Axiom 4 for this world I adore: 

Our loyalties should shift in view 

According to what we know 

And who we are speaking to 

Once I was loyal to you, and prepared to be against information 

Now I am loyal to information, maybe I'm disloyal to you 

My loyalty becomes more complex and cubist with every new fact I learn 

It depends who I'm speaking to 

And who they speak to in turn 

Axiom 5 for information workers who wish to stay alive: 

Supply, never withhold, the information requested 

With total disregard for interests 

Personal and vested 

Chinese whispers was an analogue game 

Where the signal degraded between brain and brain 

Digital whispers is the same in reverse 

The word we spread gets better, not worse 

Better, not worse 

X said to Y what A said to B 

B wrote an E-mail and sent it to me 

I showed C and C wrote to A: 

Flaming world war three 

Cut, paste, forward, copy 

CC, go with the flow 

Our ambition should be to love what we finally know 

Or, if it proves unloveable, simply to go