IJAHP: Mu/ Beyond the information age and into the new decision age 

 

 
 
 

International Journal of the 

Analytic Hierarchy Process 

152 Vol. 11 Issue 2 2019 

ISSN 1936-6744 
https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v11i2.690 

 

BEYOND THE INFORMATION AGE AND INTO THE NEW DECISION 

AGE 

 

 

 

Beyond the Information Age was the theme of the MCDM 2019 

meeting in Istanbul this past June.  What does the theme mean? A 

quick consultation with Dr. Ilker Topcu, conference chairman, 

revealed that the theme came from a discussion among the 

organizers of the conference about what is next after the 

information age. In effect, we live in an age characterized by a shift 

from industrial production to information processing. Still, any age 

in human history is expected to come to an end and be replaced by 

another one. So, the question: “What comes next?” is perfectly 

valid.  

 

While the MCDM organizers did not reach an agreement on what is next, the fact that they chose 

Beyond the Information Age as a theme for the most important conference on decision-making is 

quite telling. I think the message is that now that we have large amounts of information and easy 

communication available, the so-called information and communication technology (ICT), the 

next step is to be able to use this capability for effective decision-making. We are still far from 

this as shown by the passionate, but many times low-level public discourse about problems such 

as climate change, migrations, pandemics and others. 

 

Based on this, I propose that the next age should be called the Decision Age, which could be 

defined as an age in which our current ICT capabilities are used to make effective decisions at all 

levels. This is the implicit message of the MCDM choice of theme this year.  We are far from this 

kind of routinely effective decision-making. In our information age, too much information may 

lead to excessive analysis, information overload, lack of strategic focus and illusory knowledge 

(quickly accessed information that may mislead us into thinking we now know about the topic 

when in reality we have just scratched the surface). Finally, decision-making analysis is still 

practiced mainly by specialists who many times lack the power or ability to convince the actual 

decision-makers to take the best course of action.  

 

Therefore, we celebrate the choice of the theme Beyond the Information Age for MCDM2019 and 

IJAHP welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the upcoming Decision Age with the 

publication of our second issue this year. Beginning in our next issue, selected peer-reviewed 

AHP/ANP articles submitted from MCDM2019 will be published. 

 

 

Very sincerely, 

 

 
 

Enrique Mu, PhD 

IJAHP Editor-in-Chief