Seventh Letter To Isla
Dear Isla:
By my reckoning when last I wrote to you on ethics you were six years old. How you have changed since my last letter. Your intellect and your emotions are now coming forward in full strength. You are well into molding the views of self and world that you will hold as the adult individual you will shortly become.
This much delayed and rather brief seventh letter begins with a discussion of a particular view that I have found satisfying for my inner world and effective in dealing with the external world which tends to bring to your attention all manner of vexations.
Stated in the most basic terms, this view can be stated simply as: "Don't sweat the small stuff." By which I mean you should save your intellectual considerations and emotional responses for that which really matters. If someone is late, or forgets an unimportant appointment with you, forget it and move on, noting only that the person may not be reliable in the future. On the other hand, if you feel an injustice has been done, a dissembling act has occurred, or a circumstance you feel is important has been trivialized or not completed explained, then bring all your intellectual faculties to bear and let your feelings show in your action.
As we experience life, all humans come to know what pleases us and what displeases us. This entirely natural process started for you at your birth and will continue for the rest of your life. Each person's set of likes and dislikes is one of the most basic distinctions between individuals. However, there is a downside to this process of which you should be aware. In the unconscious effort to move toward that which we know pleases us and avoid that which we know displeases us, we tend to limit our choices because we unknowingly generalize our dislikes. Thus, as we age, we tend to become set in our ways and avoid new experiences from fear of not enjoying them.
The trick is to remain open to new experiences by recognizing our tendency to
generalize. For example, a person who does not particularly enjoy the snow and cold of a London winter, might assume they would not enjoy snow skiing and refuse an invitation for a holiday at an Alpine ski resort. However, snow skiing in the Alps has absolutely nothing in common with winter in the city. It is all about the beauty of the mountains, the feeling of freedom when moving rapidly down a slope of snow, and the joy of belonging from the close camaraderie in some snug and warm bistro in the evenings. At the end of such a holiday, a person may decide that snow skiing is not for them, but at least she will have based her decision on actual experience and not on generalized conjecture.
I urge you to be a person who is open to new experiences by particularizing your dislikes. I am, of course, speaking of experiences that neither harm nor risk your health and well being.
Finally, although not strictly an issue of ethics, but rather because computers are now becoming a major tool in your life, I wish to discuss a common but important misconception. In order to make good decisions in a digital world you need to understand what is meant by: "data," "information," and "knowledge." Although these three constructs of the human intellect form one of the foundations for the entire digital age, the media (and even the professional literature) consistently get them wrong, using one term when another is meant.
Because of the pervasive misuse, you need to understand the true distinctions between these three basic commodities of the digital world, so let's set the record right:
Data: Data are accepted facts.
Information: Information is an interpretation of data in a specific context that leads to understanding.
Knowledge: Knowledge is the insight gained through experience, education, or reflection into the meaning of the information that leads to decision and action.
A simple illustrative example: Your watch tells you it is 9:15 - that's data. Based on this, you remember you have promised to meet someone in 45 minutes - that's information. From your experience of the meeting-place location, your mind tells you that you should leave in 15 minutes in order to arrive in time - that's knowledge.
The important point is that decision and action must always be the result of knowledge, not information. That is to say, you can get information from a database, such as a railway schedule. What you do with the information must be based on knowledge in order for the action/decision to be valid.
All my love,
Your Godfather,
By my reckoning when last I wrote to you on ethics you were six years old. How you have changed since my last letter. Your intellect and your emotions are now coming forward in full strength. You are well into molding the views of self and world that you will hold as the adult individual you will shortly become.
This much delayed and rather brief seventh letter begins with a discussion of a particular view that I have found satisfying for my inner world and effective in dealing with the external world which tends to bring to your attention all manner of vexations.
Stated in the most basic terms, this view can be stated simply as: "Don't sweat the small stuff." By which I mean you should save your intellectual considerations and emotional responses for that which really matters. If someone is late, or forgets an unimportant appointment with you, forget it and move on, noting only that the person may not be reliable in the future. On the other hand, if you feel an injustice has been done, a dissembling act has occurred, or a circumstance you feel is important has been trivialized or not completed explained, then bring all your intellectual faculties to bear and let your feelings show in your action.
As we experience life, all humans come to know what pleases us and what displeases us. This entirely natural process started for you at your birth and will continue for the rest of your life. Each person's set of likes and dislikes is one of the most basic distinctions between individuals. However, there is a downside to this process of which you should be aware. In the unconscious effort to move toward that which we know pleases us and avoid that which we know displeases us, we tend to limit our choices because we unknowingly generalize our dislikes. Thus, as we age, we tend to become set in our ways and avoid new experiences from fear of not enjoying them.
The trick is to remain open to new experiences by recognizing our tendency to
generalize. For example, a person who does not particularly enjoy the snow and cold of a London winter, might assume they would not enjoy snow skiing and refuse an invitation for a holiday at an Alpine ski resort. However, snow skiing in the Alps has absolutely nothing in common with winter in the city. It is all about the beauty of the mountains, the feeling of freedom when moving rapidly down a slope of snow, and the joy of belonging from the close camaraderie in some snug and warm bistro in the evenings. At the end of such a holiday, a person may decide that snow skiing is not for them, but at least she will have based her decision on actual experience and not on generalized conjecture.
I urge you to be a person who is open to new experiences by particularizing your dislikes. I am, of course, speaking of experiences that neither harm nor risk your health and well being.
Finally, although not strictly an issue of ethics, but rather because computers are now becoming a major tool in your life, I wish to discuss a common but important misconception. In order to make good decisions in a digital world you need to understand what is meant by: "data," "information," and "knowledge." Although these three constructs of the human intellect form one of the foundations for the entire digital age, the media (and even the professional literature) consistently get them wrong, using one term when another is meant.
Because of the pervasive misuse, you need to understand the true distinctions between these three basic commodities of the digital world, so let's set the record right:
Data: Data are accepted facts.
Information: Information is an interpretation of data in a specific context that leads to understanding.
Knowledge: Knowledge is the insight gained through experience, education, or reflection into the meaning of the information that leads to decision and action.
A simple illustrative example: Your watch tells you it is 9:15 - that's data. Based on this, you remember you have promised to meet someone in 45 minutes - that's information. From your experience of the meeting-place location, your mind tells you that you should leave in 15 minutes in order to arrive in time - that's knowledge.
The important point is that decision and action must always be the result of knowledge, not information. That is to say, you can get information from a database, such as a railway schedule. What you do with the information must be based on knowledge in order for the action/decision to be valid.
All my love,
Your Godfather,
posted by Bob Baker at 2:20 AM
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