Truth, Dialogue & Hyperlinks - a response to Fabian at LIFT08

Written in partial response to a very engaging post by new LIFT08 mate Fabian Kalker on the community blog.
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I want to offer this… as a social constructivist, educator who doesn’t hold a lot of store in absolute truth outside the physiological reality of the way hearts and lungs function, for example.

We construct our own truth by documenting it and reflecting on it. For women, even more than men, the dialogical process is essential. It is for all of us, certainly if we want to create consensual truth that takes us forward together.

When I teach blogging, I say, the first audience for your blog is YOU. So whether Libby or Fabian think your blog post is a load of old cobblers is NOT primary, it is secondary to the process. For me one of the most interesting processes is that of human becoming. How we can self-educate to realise who we are and what we are here to BE, to do.

I hold the fundamental belief that if people live more whole and authentic lives, that make sure their inherent talents and abilities are developed, their values and beliefs revealed and applied, then all will be better… will will evolve. I also hold the fundamental belief that everything is interconnected in ways we cannot yet fully understand. That the Quantum Physicists and Buddhists seem to have so much in common becomes less and less of a surprise. But oh… the mysteries. The questions.

Never before have we needed the wisdom of the crowd to prevail. If we leave it to the traditional custodians of “the truth” (eg. think industrial-military complex, church, media barons, tenured professors) then we will continue to get the same truth and consequences we have been getting. We will get closer and closer to the anhihalation of the human species. The earth will survive, but we will not.

The competition for truth doesn’t aid these processes, but healthy debate and dialogue, like LIFT and blogging offers, certainly does.

Yes, there are many iterative steps in these processes, a lot of half-backed ideas and opinions being expressed. But perhaps we can rejoice in the diversity of voices, the opportunity for the many rather than the few to experience their own voice and have it echoed and reflected, to be in the conversation. To be co-creating the highest truths we can aspire to. To be working together without artificial hierarchy. Thank god hyperlinks subvert hierarchy!

There is of course an increasingly important role for editing, aggregation and other ways for us to filter content to meet our needs.

Thanks for your stimulating post! I’ll get into it all some more soon.

Libby