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. I wont get into some particular contributions from others in this post, I will just try to add another perspective to the knowledge management hype. IT-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 mediocrity monster, controlling all of us. (You're right, that's the first one and probably spelled wrong.) The ideas 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 software application has ever come up with innovative ideas. I am afraid that the mediocrity monster will triumph someday, making us believe that supercomputers are the only true source and backbone for knowledge, judgment 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. If 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 familiar with the word. Because they're not familiar with the word they don't know the meaning of it and are therefor 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 the English language.
But we also have some Dutch and Belgian members: They would immediately 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 color you use in your e-mail application). In its essence we always 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 consensus, a new paradigm or even worse, the new dogma. if so it will be another step towards the mouth of the mediocrity monster.
Isn't it amazing how we can fool ourselves, just by forgetting the simple and obvious: "An educated mind is useless without a focused will and dangerous without a loving heart."