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A distinguishing feature of late modern societies is the significant extent to which they are dependent on knowledge for their functioning. Contrary to how knowledge was viewed in pre-modern societies, knowledge now tends to be understood as information, that is as consisting of objectified, commodified, abstract, decontextualized representations. The overabundance of information in late modernity makes the information society full of temptations. It tempts us into thinking that knowledge-as-information is objective and exists independently of human beings; that everything can be reduced into information; and that generating ever more amounts of information will increase the transparency of society and, thus, lead to the rational management of social problems. However, as argued in this paper, the information society is riddled with paradoxes that prevent it from satisfying the temptations it creates. More …