Category: Ethics

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Forgotten Mother of Civic Intelligence Apps

06 Family, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, 12 Water, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, IO Sense-Making
Who, Me?

The post Search: errors that resulted in great ideas and especially the  comment on need to fully integrate women and minorities reminded me of Ellen Swallow Richards.  She was one of the first publicly acknowledged female heavy-weights in intellect and values in the USA, in my opinion.  See especially her later books, The Cost of Food, The Cost of Shelter, The Art of Right Living, The Cost of Cleanness, Sanitation in Daily Life (1907), and Euthenics, the Science of Controllable Environment (1910).  I had forgotten that she was also responsible for introducing the word “ecology” into the English language.

Wikipedia/Ellen Swallow Richards

Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (December 3, 1842 – March 30, 1911) was the foremost female industrial and environmental chemist in the United States in the 19th century, pioneering the field of home economics. Richards graduated from Westford Academy (2nd oldest secondary school in Westford, MA). She was the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and its first female instructor, the first woman in America accepted to any school of science and technology, and the first American woman to earn a degree in chemistry.

Read more….

See Also:

Chamber of Scientists > Ellen Swallow Richards

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New Institutions as Bulwark Against the Corporate-Political State

Advanced Cyber/IO, Communities of Practice, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Methods & Process, Policies
Michael Ostrolenk Recommends...

New Institutions as the Bulwark Against the Corporate-Political State from Kevin Rollins on Vimeo.

Michael Ostrolenk and Kevin Rollins discuss the role of new media, both social media like facebook and twitter, as well as niche magazines. Ostrolenk says that such forums help new ideas because they “remove barriers to entry and support [new idea] generation.

Five minute video

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9-11 Goes Credible: Consciousness Rising

07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Collective Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, InfoOps (IO), Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Misinformation & Propaganda, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy, Waste (materials, food, etc)
John Steiner

“9/11” goes credible

FYI….as received.

John, a few yrs back you were posting doubts about the official explanations (both Norad and Nist have changed their stories) of 9/11, but not in a long time. I can imagine many reasons to abandon the discussion, like not upsetting some of your readers, but I just wanted to point out that back then the debate was dominated by speculation, but that in recent years the Truth movement has been professionalized by such orgs as Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (some 1500 members risking their careers), Pilots for 9/11 Truth, Firefighters for 9/11 Truth, Scholars for 9/11 Truth, etc., as well as peer-reviewed scientific articles. I'd be interested in your thoughts on the subject nowadays.

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Moving beyond teachers and bosses

03 Economy, 04 Education, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process

Seth Godin Home

Moving beyond teachers and bosses

We train kids to deal with teachers in a certain way: Find out what they want, and do that, just barely, because there are other things to work on. Figure out how to say back exactly what they want to hear, with the least amount of effort, and you are a ‘good student.'

We train employees to deal with bosses in a certain way: Find out what they want, and do that, just barely, because there are other things to do. Figure out how to do exactly what they want, with the least amount of effort, and the last risk of failure and you are a ‘good worker.'

The attitude of minimize is a matter of self-preservation. Raise the bar, the thinking goes, and the boss will work you harder and harder. Take initiative and you might fail, leading to a reprimand or termination (think about that word for a second… pretty frightening).

The linchpin, of course, can't abide the attitude of minimize. It leaves no room for real growth and certainly doesn't permit an individual to become irreplaceable.

If your boss is seen as a librarian, she becomes a resource, not a limit. If you view the people you work with as coaches, and your job as a platform, it can transform what you do each day, starting right now. “My boss won't let me,” doesn't deserve to be in your vocabulary. Instead, it can become, “I don't want to do that because it's not worth the time/resources.” (Or better, it can become, “go!”)

The opportunity of our age is to get out of this boss as teacher as taskmaster as limiter mindset. We need more from you than that.

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Letter to a Young Man: Join the Secret World

04 Education, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), IO Sense-Making, Military

Phi Beta Iota: A young man sought advice on whether to join the US secret intelligence world despite its many ethical issues and poor leadership.  Below is the answer as provided to us by Robert Steele, to whom the email was addressed.  The inquiring email is below the line.

To Anonymous:

This is simple.  Continue with your plans to apply for a position with the US Government in secret intelligence.  The easiest is via the military as an officer, and frankly, I recommend that because it gives you a unique grounding as a young leader, an understanding of the military mind-set, world travel, etcetera.  Joining CIA directly if they take you (they are moderately desperate) has its prospects, but on balance, I would recommend that you invest four years as an officer on active duty, followed by four to eight years at CIA.  Treat it as FUN, and a reality learning experience.

As simply as possible, as bad as they are, there is no substitute for the real experience and it is a privilege to work in secret intelligence, completely irrespective of how unethical and reality stupid its leaders might be.

I do NOT recommend the FBI, nor do I recommend the private sector.  Think in terms of a 30-40 year career.  Getting the clearances is much easier if you go in to government first, and they are worth $20K a year above and beyond normal salaries, should you choose to stay in the secret world.

Two key points:

1)  One day we will create a Smart Nation, and those who fully understand both the benefits and the pathologies of secret intelligence will have an important role to play.

2)  If you keep your own integrity, and treat this as a learning and observation experience, the loss of integrity by the US intelligence community leaders should not dissuade you from undertaking what is sure to be one of the most satisfying experiences of your life.  Illusions and pathologies aside, secret intelligence is as cool as it gets, you will learn a great deal, and it will make you stronger for the future.

Happy to answer any additional questions.  As long as you keep it in perspective, if you can get in, you should.

Semper Fidelis,
Robert

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Graphic: Holistic Analytics for Nuclear-Climate

03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Energy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 11 Society, 12 Water, Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Balance, Budgets & Funding, Citizen-Centered, Communities of Practice, Earth Intelligence, Earth Orientation, Ethics, History, Leadership-Integrity, Multinational Plus, Peace Intelligence, Policies-Harmonization, Processing, Reform, Strategy-Holistic Coherence, Threats, Tribes, True Cost
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IO 101: US “Brand” defined by its worst

Ethics, IO Impotency
Seth Godin Home

The worst voice of the brand *is* the brand

We either ignore your brand or we judge it, usually with too little information. And when we judge it, we judge it based on the actions of the loudest, meanest, most selfish member of your tribe.

When a zealot advocates violence, outsiders see all members of his tribe as advocates of violence.

When a doctor rips off Medicare, all doctors are seen as less trustworthy.

When a fundamentalist advocates destruction of outsiders, all members of that organization are seen as intolerant.

When a soldier commits freelance violence, all citizens of his nation are seen as violent.

When a car rental franchise rips off a customer, all outlets of the franchise suffer.

Seems obvious, no? I wonder, then, why loyal and earnest members of the tribe hesitate to discipline, ostracize or expel the negative outliers.

“You're hurting us, this is wrong, we are expelling you.”

What do you stand for?

Phi Beta Iota: Every officer that goes along with illegal and insane orders is not only allowing the US “brand” to be defined by systemic corruption and careerists gone wild, but is in violation of their Constitutional Oath to protect the Republic against domestic enemies as well as foreign.  Get a grip, people!  Stop drinking the kool-aid.  Challenge authority–honor can be restored.