Have you ever seen a computer with a loving heart?
Have you ever been in contact with a heretical computer?
I have followed the ongoing knowledge thread for a while and have
contributed to the subject several times. ( to find out when and what I
contributed please use the LO-website database.
I won't get into some particular contributions from others in this post, I
will just try to add another perspective to the knowledge management hype.
Lo-ers who have read my earlier contributions, know that my type of
contributing to the list don't deserve awards for 'best practice of
language' because I have to restrict to the english vocabulary that I have
learned throughout the years. That's no excuse, it's a fact.
I like to use simple out of the box examples and like to confront with
strong or radical statements that are often beside the mainstream in hope
that people are willing to reconsider their evident trues- at least for a
moment . I do that because at the bottom of the mainstream lays the
mediocricy munster, controling all of us. (You're right, that's the first
one and probably spelled wrong ;-) ). The idea's for true innovations are
for 99,9 % invented by people beside the mainstream, so called heretics. I
am a heretic. As far as I know, no computer or softwareapplication has
ever come up with innovative idea's. I am afraid that the mediocricy
munster will triumph someday, making us believe that supercomputers are
the only true source and backbone for knowledge, judgement and decisions.
Now to the subject: A little experiment to get started:
Read my lips: VERFLUCHT
The above word in capitals as it appears on your screen represents a word
with a meaning. It is stored on your computer as what most of you would
label as 'information'. I don't agree with that, but we get to it later.
iIf I would hold a microphone to the mouth of our American and English
listmembers while pronouncing the word so we all could hear it, we would
hear some strange sounds.Their tongue probable curl up and becomes twisted
because they don't know how to pronounce it. That is because they haven't
seen or heard the word before, because they are not familiair with the
word. Because they're not familiair with the word they don't know the
meaning of it and are derfor not able to pronounce it properly. am I
right? (Now you're mind has probably automatically responded with a 'yes'
or 'no', right? Well that's how the mind works: it always responds to
incoming 'info.. The reasoning is round.
Our German speaking listmembers have a different reaction, They will
almost immediately recognize the shapes on the screen, and say the word in
German language. They will also instantly understand what it means:
'cursed' or 'damned' in english language.
But we also have some Dutch and Belgian members: They would immidiately
label the 'VERFLUCHT'shapes on their screen as 'paintsmell' = 'the smell
of paint'.
The shapes of VERFLUCHT on your screen are for all of us the same, the
meaning however is different: no meaning, cursed or paintsmell.
Did you get the point already?
My point is that the meaning of the word VERFLUCHT could not be stored on
the computer. No meaning can ever be stored on a computer or on paper. The
meaning of the above example is contextual and made by a person. The
context is given by the actual situation, which is for an American, German
or Dutch speaking person different.
The idea of knowledge management is a fake; at least if you look at the
theories and attempts of those who think they can store knowledge on
computers. They will fail.
I'll go one step further.
Even the dots on your screen formed as VERFLUCHT is no information. What
you see is the result of fluorescent matter, visible as a contrast between
black and white. (or any other contrast, depending on the colour you use in
your e-mailapp.). In its essence we allways deal with sense-perceptions
that meet notions.
Sense perceptions flow in from the outer world and notions flow from the
inside out. They meet in the middle where it becomes knowledge, also known
as understanding, also known as conclusion, also known as insight, also
known as wisdom, etc... (Just different levels of complexity)
I understand and speak both German and Dutch. So I can give the word
VERFLUCHT a German oriented meaning or a Dutch oriented meaning. Which one
I determine as 'right' depends on the rest of the context. So the context
is what gives the relevance. We wont fantasize on what can happen if the
wrong interpretation is given in my example, but I hope that I made clear
that it is always "I" ( a living person) and not a system, (however
sophisticated) that gives meaning. I am the judge of how my thoughts deal
with my perceptions.
We Do have to fantasize on what can happen if the definition that
knowledge can be stored and recreated on computers becomes concensus, a
new paradigma or even worse, the new dogma. if so it will be another step
towards the mouth of the mediocricy munster.
Isn't it amazing how we can fool ourselves, just by forgetting the simple
and obvious: "An educated mind is useless without a focussed will and
dangerous without a loving heart"
greetings
Winfried Deijmann
Mr. Winfried M. Deijmann - Deijmann & Partners - Zutphen - The Netherlands
Artists, Consultants and Facilitators for Organizational Learning,
Leadership and Action Learning Events
Het Zwanevlot 37. NL 7206 CB Zutphen, The Netherlands
<winfried@universal.nl>
Phone: +31-(0)575-522076
Fax: +31-(0)575-527310
Homepage: <http://come.to/dialoog>
Website van de Stichting Dialoog: <http://dialoog.net>
For information about our international workshops:
<http://www.universal.nl/users/winfried/workshopsuk.html>
"An educated mind is useless without a focussed will and dangerous without
a loving heart."
--winfried@universal.nl (W.M. Deijmann)
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>