This is a selection of tweets about truth & reality, ideology, cult, orthodoxy and prejudices - in general, in IT and in CS, from 6000+ tweets posted in 6 years. With minor edits to increase readability.
Suggests additional tweets and comments, here and on twitter. I'll add them to the list.
TRUTH
What's art, what's not? What's good, what's not? What's right, what's not? What's true, what's not? And who decides?
Philosophy is a handbook of life, Andrea Camilleri -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Camilleri
Social constructionism study the ways in which individuals and groups participate in the construction of their perceived social reality
Consensus theory holds that #truth is whatever is agreed upon by some specified group
Consensus reality is that which is generally agreed to be reality, based on a consensus view.
W.James's Pragmatic theory of truth:a quality the value of is confirmed by its effectiveness when applying concepts to actual practice
Knowledge between truth and belief:
image
Superstition: the belief on imaginary cause-effect relations
Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers -
link
@giulio_vian have read that for most of the religions "truth" is transcendent; and each religion have a different representation of that
Lying is a cooperative act,a lie has no power until someone else agrees to believe the lie. Pamela Meyer
video
TRUTH & VALUE-FRAME
Value pluralism:the idea that there are several values which may be equally correct and fundamental, and yet in conflict with each other
Realized value system: contains exceptions to resolve contradictions b/w values in practical circumstances,Is what ppl tend to use in daily life
Idealized value system:a listing of values that lacks exceptions,absolute.Absolutists:who hold to idealized value sys & claim no exceptions
Every value system, like the Agile one, inevitably is incomplete, has some inconsistencies, contradictions and ambiguities
On Value systems pluralism and Realized value system Vs #Lean or #Agile cult/ideology:
link
RELIABLE SOURCES OF TRUTH
When validity of a concept is based on faith on the Master,who prove Master's correctness? When 2 Masters disagree, who decide who's right?
Validity of a theory can't be proved by consensus except for cults & superstitions.While magic & any suffic adv technology are on their own league
RT
@demingSoS: "Do not believe anything because I have told you so. Only believe it when you have tested it for yourself." Buddha
RT
@TheBuddhaNature: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who said it, no matter if I said it." ~Buddha
RT
@MarkGraban: When somebody says "I am a professor" and therefore can't be argued with... they aren't a very good professor.
@giulio_vian The difficult one, choosing Masters that encourage to develop personal insights rather than to subscribe to one given truth
Can you imagine a scientific field where validity of an hypothesis is decided by the proposing scientist's popularity & the current trend?
While your opinion, belief,intuition,feeling can be right you need facts,evidences,arguments to share it,discuss it,improve it with others
TRUTH AND OPENNESS
Openness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openness
The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question,and by seeking we may come upon the truth - Pierre Abelard
RT
@cyetain: "Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."- Voltaire
RT
@TheBuddhaNature: "The truth you believe and cling to, makes you unavailable to hear anything new." ~ Pema Chodron
All models, frameworks & well established knowledge may blind us when facing raw talent, unconventional approaches, creativity & innovation
"There always are 2 options:A)Disagree B)Learn something new. Smart people usually try option B multiple times first. It's called Listening"
Explore the unknown,learn a new thing,try something different,cross a border,build a bridge,connect the dots in unprecedent ways,be a pioneer
What we know, what we believe to know, what we know and is wrong, what we don't know, what is uncertain, what change, what we'll never know
Self-transcendence, Openness to change, Self-enhancement, Conservation
image
RT
@DerailleurAgile The six blind men and the elephant
link // This is also known as cognitive bias. via
@lukadotnet HT
@YannPdeM
RT
@migueldeicaza: "opinion without experience is called prejudice" by
@natfriedman
"Prejudice has 2 characteristics: 1)Everyone has prejudices 2)Nobody realizes that they are prejudiced"-
@RisingLinda:
link
When intuition is to put an experience into a known sys of thought/theory instead of expanding the boundaries of understanding, is prejudice
When dealing with unknowns with a limited time to decide, a #belief is called #intuition. Over a long period is called #superstition
When dealing with principles at some point you will most likely face the choice of being pragmatic/contextual vs ideological/maximalist
@giulio_vian A principle imply judgement of situation,evaluation of context,dealing w/ exceptions. Ideology is absolutist, totalitarian
To be cynical is to submit fully to an ideological structure despite knowing better - Slavoj Zizek. What ideology are you submitting to?
RT
@LeanVoices: The arrogant man thinks he is entirely right and never wrong, the wise man knows he is often wrong and never
entirely right.
"Arrogance: believing you know the *right* answers better than any other. Confidence: knowing that you can cope with what will be."
"Confidence of knowing the right answer is arrogance in disguise. Real confidence is knowing to be able to cope with what will be."
Arrogance often indicates loss of contact w/ reality,affect learning,was considered the greatest crime of ancient Greek
link
IMHO good consultants are those who can be confident without being arrogant, who have initiative without lacking empathy & ability to listen
When arrogance meet lack of empathy, groupthink is just one step away. Add a dash of violent communication & bullying is just one step away.
Mastering the art of being humble toward unknowns and experts, and at the same time seamlessly being courageous with plenty of initiative
POWER & TRUTH
How discipline, community, action and vision can lead to a disaster
link
False statements that support the power structure of the hierarchy get precedence over true statements that put the power struct in question
... from S. Denning about struggle between power and truth
Facing an inconvenient truth can be harder than reveling an inconvenient truth #transparency
There is no tech argument that can be decided by authority except in religion, in politic, in sects, in authoritarian & totalitarian regimes
having the authority to decide does not imply bening authoritative
@ZJemptv what you call critique could be moralism: judging someonelse behaviour based on own subjective values & morality
@coreyhaines
Moralist is someone who judges others according to his/her own values & beliefs & doesn't recognize to others the right to choose their own
What if #Agile #Orthodoxy is used as a weapon to oppose disagreement and dissent in support of some1 authoritativeness?
link
Critical thinking and independent judgment over the cult of personality and cult leaders: The 5th value of the #Agile Manifesto
@ImaginaryTime that move the focus from the cult of personality (of the master) to the scientific method to objectively demonstrate a theory
@ramtop yep forgot self-appointed high priests of agile methodologies & their churches.After all IT too deserve its Scientology... or not?
RT
@RonJeffries:
@agilemanager do you imagine, somehow, that dragging agile down with misstatements will somehow make your ideas taller?
TRUTH IN IT & COMPUTER SCIENCE
RT
@LeanVoices: You might be entitled to your own opinion but you are not entitled to your own facts. R Dawkins
Distinction between exact sciences & humanities, demarcation problem b/w science & pseudoscience: good to know for software production pros
Exact science
link Humanities
link Demarcation problem
link
@jchyip @marick and at the same time science progress also with help by unproven conjectures and intuitions
link
RT
@LeanVoices: There is a world of difference between those who seek the truth and those who want to win a debate at the expense of truth.
@tobiasmayer Can we say is Dogma-free when each rule have a purpose and when the beliefs are supported by facts?
@OlafLewitz @waynerpalmer
proven facts/data, subjective perspectives, personal opinions & preferences, science/engineering,politic,religion/cult, superstition,trend
In pub talks belief and opinions suffice. (SW) Engineers instead should use facts, evidences and good arguments
Science uses external reviews & experiment replication. What about methodologists that use only data from their own projects, is it enough?
Case-based reasoning, Retrieve-Reuse-Revise-Retain: turning anecdotal evidence into science?
link
Professional software development between science, sound experience and beliefs:
link
Many ways of looking at Software development, from software religions to computers programming:
link
Free yourself from cargo cult software development, recognize the unknowns in professional software production
link
#SoftwareAdvertising is tools vendors & consultants advertising themselves w/ smoke&mirrors as opposed to sharing valuable content/insights
#SoftwareFashion is about following new trends as opposed to developing mastery in one area and develop useful evolution
#SoftwarePolitic is about collecting consensus & search for supporters as opposed to searching for solutions that actually works well enough
#SoftwareSuperstition is about counting on unproven cause-effect relationships as opposed to empirical evidences, proven facts,real data
#SoftwareReligion is about believing something as opposed to having experienced it hands-on directly
IT magic: where people love superstitions, illusions, silver bullets, magic tricks over professionally expertise competence and perseverance
IT religion: where people love opinions beliefs rituals sermons tribal belonging over facts, evidences, good arguments, hands-on experience
IT fashion: where people love the newest and the trendy! Yesterday science/progress/discoveries are outmoded
@migueldeicaza @natfriedman opinion not based of facts/evidence is called superstition or arrogance
@migueldeicaza @natfriedman opinion based only on own idea and point of view is called conservative narrow minded
@migueldeicaza @natfriedman opinion based only on previous experiences is called preconceived idea