Respect and professionalism are very important to me, and they really go hand in hand. I have some powerful feelings that are generally either suppressed or overshadowed by a strong code of morals and a deep respect for people in general. If something is contrary to my core beliefs, I have a hard time taking it seriously.
The one thing that comes to mind was my short stint at an internet marketing company. At first, I lied to myself and played the game. Deep down I hate spammers and marketing people who prey on people while adding little to no value. Information harvesting people, etc. I don't like those Kroger Plus cards or whatever the equiv farmer jack cards are. I don't like "Rewards Zone" or all that other information tracking bullshit. The more data people have about you, the less human you become. The more of a statistic you are. The more right they are about you. The last thing I want to see is determinism proved true.
Once I stopped lying to myself about what I was doing... there was a huge breakdown. Even though there were a few people there I respected, the premises I came under were suddenly greatly overshadowed by the glaring truth: I was working for the people I hated. Talk about being a sell-out. I think this was a test of my character that I wasn't ready for. Imagine you all of a sudden find yourself overwhelmed with disgust for yourself. I started to be unprofessional in the workplace, and worse yet it felt completely justified. In fact had I stayed any longer, I would have tried to undermine the social control structures they have in place.. and that's not my place. Part of me is glad I burned that bridge... in fact part of me wishes I could have burnt it more. Part of me is ashamed though... perhaps its the disappointed grown up in me.
I love technology. I love software. I love people.
Thats what powers me and makes me create. Thats why I'm here. I don't want a carrot forever dangled. I want my life to have meaning. And that means being able to work with what I love, for the reasons I believe in. And try as I might, I can't put a price on it.
--_-
It's relieving to know that knowledge workers have been seen to lose a little sleep over knowledge management, although I of course find no joy in the fact that you have been through an existential crisis. Have you considered volunteering information to the public domain that would otherwise be volunteered to the Krogo Plus Card?
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[+] Comment (Moving Competition) by Mikey G @ 12/08/07 06:28:02 PM {0}
I don't see what value that would add. It simply moves competition from the gathering and storage of such knowledge to the application of this knowledge. At least with the current model there is a bar to entry. The last thing I'd want is 1000000 (more) spammers running around with better data. At least their 5 year old yahoo list is half-bogus. I'd much rather see the entire data mining industry go away. I know it sounds idealistic, but I just don't think I'll be happy with any other solution.
Putting private data in the public domain is, when you really think about it, just the abolition of privacy. In this day and age, our focus should be on enhancing privacy rights rather than capitalistic opportunity (regardless of it's ability to level the playing field).
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