RE: [Fis] war

Dear FIS colleagues,

I think that, for good or for bad, 'information science' has also to take
into its scope the emergence of those amazing social creatures --cultures,
states, empires- and has to make sense of their human or unhuman behavior.
If they are 'adaptive' or not. In past discussions we barely touched on
'morality' and values, and I do not have the insight of the poet below
(thanks John for the poem) to articulate any grand vision about that.

In any case, I really join Elohimjl's statements about a progressively
insane evolution of our societies. The last ten years are becoming a social
and ecological nightmare, a monumental fiasco of our collective system of
knowledge. And now this most outrageous, gratuitous, and cruel war!

There are very clear personal responsabilities, yes, but the fiasco
concerns not only to those politicians, media, think tanks, companies,
institutions, religious leaders; it also concerns us, the people in the
sciences... we have failed to provide societies with an overall wisdom,
even into our own ranks, and have collectively headed towards a dramatic
civilization crisis. I think that one of the most insidious causes is the
moral disintegration, the moral disorientation. Obsessed with 'truth' we
have failed to illuminate 'behavior': how to integrate information,
knowledge, value and moral in a harmonious and humane way.

>And in the flickering light and the comforting glow
>You get the world every night as a TV show
>The latest spin on the shit we're in, blow by blow
>And the more you watch, the less you know
>
>Beyond the hundred million darkened living rooms
>Out where the human ocean roars
>Into the failing light, the generations go
>Heading for the information wars."

Pedro

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Received on Fri Mar 28 14:48:09 2003