Parable

A young man went fishing. He was stressed, and trying to find a way to relax. He felt inadequate in his job, inadequate in his world, inadequate in his universe. There was so much he needed to know and so little he knew.

After the morning was almost spent, he caught a fish. When he took the hook out of its mouth, the fish spoke to him.

"Fisherman, fisherman, I'll give you one wish if you'll release this humble wish fish."

Astounded, the young man stared at the fish, but without hesitation he said, "I wish I knew everything!"

"Granted," said the fish with something of an ironic smile, and the young man threw the fish back in the drink.

Before he understood what was happening, the young man's mind began to expand. Facts, theories, ideas and ideals - every possible thought filled his mind and heart and soul. Still, the knowledge kept coming. Science, religion and art flooded his small human frame. Tragedy, humor and history descended on him like the weight of a billion books. It kept coming. Human minds opened to him. Belief systems, prejudices, hopes, fears, loves and hates poured into every inch of his expanding being. Alien thoughts from unseen worlds entered him, throttled him, thrashed him and shocked him. Deep down inside he wanted to scream, but he no longer knew how. What was a scream? There was no time to answer. Knowledge was still coming, still filling, still drowning.

When the knowledge flood slowed to real time, the man realized that he was no longer a man. He was God.

God remembered the young man he had been just moments before. He remembered the timid, fearful, hopeful creature who had the opportunity to grow, to dare, to lose and to win. God remembered how the young man's mind was capable of learning, growing, understanding, doubting and how the young man's heart was capable of loving, hating, believing, trusting. God envied that young man.

With a voice that shook the surrounding hillsides, God cried out, "Wish fish, take back your wish! Throw me back into the pond I came from."

There was a ripple in the surface of the lake below him and a single word startled the mind of God. "Granted!"

The Author

The idea of authority hearkens back to the idea of an original Author who wrote the universe and still holds the pen to make little corrections now and then. The Author is God, and in most cultures all other types of authority are founded on God's authority. Kings and Queens, governments, spiritual leaders, law, and parents derive their historical authority from God.

But what happens when we can't get a direct line to the Author any longer? What happens when we realize that God is no longer answering the phone in any way that we can document?

Then authority shifts. We have to find a new foundation for authority. So we try education. We equate knowledge with authority. Those with specialized knowledge are "authorities," experts in their fields. We begin to rely on these experts in religion, science, art, politics, and business.

But the experts disagree. Bodies of experts line up together to oppose other bodies of experts. In time the heated debates between the experts no longer interest us. We have our own minds and intuitions and gut feelings about things. We have our own sources of data. We have the Internet at our fingertips, the Encyclopedia Britannica online, a billion facts at our disposal.

Who is the authority now?

We're caught in a flux between idealism and ironism.

Idealism claims that the "truth is out there," and we can find it if we look hard enough. There is "one best way," and we can find that way if we try every possible way one by one. Idealism says that we progress as individuals, as civilizations when we get closer and closer to the ideal. We have beauty pageants to determine which female is closest to this ideal. We have elections to determine which politician is closest to this ideal. We have competitions of every type imaginable to determine what the ideal is or should be. Idealists strive for perfection believing that it is within their grasp if they reach high enough and far enough.

Ironism is based on the assumption that there is no ideal, that there are only choices between alternative futures. There is no sure way to determine the best future, so ironism tends to give way to pragmatism. Do what works. If you're faced with a problem, and there is no authority that can give you the definitive answer then simply do what works. The irony of this situation is that doing what works is difficult to nail down. There is no assurance that what works today will work tomorrow. There is no assurance that what seems to work now may be very flawed on some level that will reveal itself a year from now. An ironist must accept the absence of a final authority without losing the hope of making a better tomorrow.

The Internet is driving irony. The explosion of information has made pragmatic choices a necessity. People can no longer be sure they have all the facts. There are too many facts to have, and facts must be interpreted before they can be turned into information; information must be put in a context before it can be turned into knowledge. Irony is on the rise. We know we don't know, but we still have to decide. The Internet has produced a wealth of data but a dearth of knowledge. We have the opportunity today like we have never had before to try and try again, to dream and dream again, to build and build again. And the tomorrow we make today we can remake tomorrow and then remake again.

Copyright © 2000 Kevin Giovanetto All Rights Reserved

Kevin Giovanetto is the President/CEO of Cyberdesic, a Web consulting firm which helps large corporations adjust to the rapidly changing business space of the postmodern world.

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