Bases One Basis Two Bases (pronounced base ees) Knowledge extracts from Information Like Gold extracts from Ore The result of Data Mining is Knowledge The application of Knowledge is Wisdom That which one wishes to Know is Knowledge. Knowledge is Learning. Learning is Knowledge. Knowing the limits of Knowledge is Wisdom. Integrity is the application of Wisdom from a moral basis. Ethics are the rules for individual behavior practiced within a moral environment. Organizations and Institutions are not individuals. Articles of Incorporation allow an Organization to be treated as an Individual under the Law. The Law is one of our Truth Systems Logic is another. So are Mathematics and Science. Each Truth System has its own methods, conventions and practices. Medicine is another. The Practice of Medicine provides an example of how The Ethical Behavior of an Organization cannot be based on the same rules as The Ethical Behavior of an Individual. Medical Doctors have for a long time provided our Society with one of our Paragons of Ethical Behavior. They exercised Ethical and Moral Behavior each day, making Decisions, that most of us would shrink from. Over the last ten to fifteen years we have watched our stock of Independent, Ethical, Family Doctors Succumb to Bankrupcy and Litigation, and to seek Shelter by Aggregation and Amalgamation into Health Care Institutions. Many of these Doctors have come to know, First hand, that Individual Ethics are not congruent with Corporate Policy. The order of treatment is contaminated by The Bottom Line. A man comes in with a headache. CAT Scan, MRI. Two days of tests later he is asked to pee on a strip of litmus. Ah Haw - Diabetes! But the order of testing is not determined by medical probability or practicality (or even by the Doctor) but by cost effectivenes of Capital Equipment. Those CAT Scanners payments have to be made! And this man had insurance. QED. CAT Scan First. Pee on Litmus Last. Any Freshman in Business School could figure this out. And Based on the Evidence - That seems to be Who Is In Charge. Where is the Moral, Ethical Basis? It doesn't Exist. There is no Corporate Vice President of Ethics Morality Knowledge or Wisdom Only a Corporate Vice President of Information Services and He Answers to The Corporate Vice President of CAT Scanner Payments. Which is more dangerous to Society 1. A youth who has grown up in the ghetto, in a moral vacuum to become a Predatory Criminal. or 2. A youth who has grown up in the suburbs, in a moral vacuum to become a Corporate Lawyer Behavior is, after all, the whole purpose of Information Knowledge Wisdom Integrity Morality Orgnaizations without These Attributes are no better than Individuals without These Attributes This is No Longer an Intellectual Exercise. Our Future Depends on Our Ability To Instill Individuals with Moral Behavior and to Design and Implement Organizations with the Same Qualities Which We Would Wish to See In Our Friends and Family. To Design Such Organizations Is Social Engineering To Not Design Such Organizations Is Social Disaster To Deny Black and White because of the Existence of Grey is less than intelligent, some might term it as something like STUPID. Knowledge and Knowing begins with sensing. Seeing Feeling Smelling Tasting Hearing. Stupidity, on the other hand begins with not-sensing. Not Seeing Not Feeling Not Smelling Not Tasting Not Hearing. Not Sensing is Non-Sense. When Behavior is based on Non-Sense, it makes no difference how smart The Person doing it is, It is STUPID Behavior. The Design of Our Organizations Forces us to behave, or act, stupid. It doesen't matter who occupies The Executive Suite. Its the Design of the System That is Stupid. How do we make Smart Designs. Just doing the Old Design over again, using Computers, Does Not Make the System Smart. The Design Must have a different Basis. It must be based on Knowledge and Wisdom, Integrity and Morality, Not just on Information and Rules. We can't even measure Knowledge yet, or Wisdom. How much is enough?
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