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Memetic and Information Diseases in a Knowledge SocietySpeculations towards the development of cures and preventive measures- / - Introduction Approaches to information-related diseases Classification of information diseases (and memetic diseases) Excesses in the information diet Deficiencies in the information diet Alternative and complementary models of information health and disease Supplements to an information diet and inexplicable information needs Mental disorders as disorders of information processing Emergence of "social diseases" in association with "social networking"? Public health Potential implications of "causes of death" for "information death" Sensory deprivation and Insight enhancement? "Knowledge diseases" and "Wisdom diseases"? Value and ethical diseases and disorders? Preliminary conclusions References IntroductionThis is an adaptation of Networking Diseases: speculations towards the development of cures and preventive measures (Transnational Associations, 30, 1978). As argued there, despite widespread exposure to organizations and organizational systems in various states of growth, health and decay, it would appear that there is no convenient checklist of the malfunctions to which organizations are subject. The matter is of course normally broached through the various kinds of management problem, and the measures required to "get an ailing organization on its feet again". But the range of possible malfunctions is not identified as such, particularly for the kinds of structures -- like networks -- which are supposed neither to require, nor to lend themselves to, management. In a knowledge society, there is a related need to better understand the "information diseases" to which individuals themselves are vulnerable within the networks in which they variously participate, or as they interact with their sources of information -- or indeed as they themselves act as producers of information. In order to focus thinking more clearly on the information malfunctions to which individuals and networks may be subject, some guidelines are required to provoke recognition of unforeseen possibilities which might otherwise go unrecognized. In passing one may note the effort by Michael Haas (Types of asymmetry in social and political systems, 1967, see Table 1) to identify the different kinds of "asymmetry" to which systems may be subject. However he defines asymmetry as "an attribute of a system which may vary over time, space, and other such dimensions". Such asymmetry may or may not be viewed as associated with some kind of malfunction. For a deliberately humorous attempt to identify how systems fail, a study of "systemantics " merits attention (John Gall. Systemantics; how systems work and especially how they fail, 1977). The humour does not detract from an underlying profundity. An attempt to categorize different kinds of system problems also throws some light on the matter. In commentary on the collective significance of the "world problems" profiled in the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (1976/1994), one suggested metaphor was to consider them as disorders and diseases (Problem metaphors):
This disease metaphor is useful because of its familiarity. It has a degree of legitimacy through the biochemical information that is recognized as vital to the healthy functioning of a body. This perspective also has recognized legitimacy through understanding of cybernetic control systems. These perspectives appear somewhat distant from understandings of individuals as agents processing information in an information society and, by extension, in a universe of knowledge. With regard to notions of a universe of information, a helpful overview is provided in Future Feeder; Journal of Architecture and Information (2005, 1) states:
However it is not the purpose of this discussion to focus initially on such implications. Such more general understandings of information are discussed in a closing section on "Knowledge diseases" and "Wisdom diseases". A more general focus also suggests that this exploration might have focused on "memetic disorders" and "information disorders" rather than relying on the disease metaphor. Approaches to information-related diseases"Information diseases": There currently appears to be little investigation of individual malfunctions under this term. It can of course be argued that most diseases are effectively due to inappropriate generation and dissemination of information. This is especially clear in relation to metabolic processes and any underlying genetic factors. To the extent that diseases arise from problematic operation of inappropriate operation of hormones or the nervous system, they can be understood as information diseases. However such information diseases might be best understood as of an unconscious nature. Of greater interest here are the information diseases associated with more conscious exposure to information in an information-based (knowledge) society and the nature of the interaction with it. What societal diseases might the media be said to engender and to sustain? "Information system diseases": The omnipresence of computer-enabled "information systems", and their vital role in the emerging knowledge society, suggests that the problems that may undermine the healthy operation of of such systems could highlight an array of possibilities through which symptoms of systemic dysfunctionality could be detected in individuals and their networks. The dependence on such information systems suggests that information system dysfunction may be better understood in that context -- especially given the resources allocated to their maintenance and upgrading to achieve improved ("healthier" and more "robust") performance. The requirements for the "integrity of an information system" would presumably be seen as analogous to those of the human body. The development of the internet has of course resulted in the concept of a computer virus being widely adopted as a means of articulating the dysfunctional behaviours of a particular range of program codes. The resources devoted to creating, detecting and neutralizing or removing such viruses -- and the degree of threat they pose to information systems -- suggests that they may offer many insights into the nature of analogous viruses in the knowledge system, whether termed cultural or memetic viruses. "Memetic diseases": Few diseases seem to be recognized under this term -- although the terms "memetic viruses" and "viruses of the mind" are now used. However George van Driem (Languages of the Himalayas: an ethnolinguistic handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region containing an introduction to the symbiotic theory of language, 2001) provides an extensive analysis, notably citing the work of Richard Dawkins in describing religions as cultural viruses. He notes that genetic information is what we call nature, and extra-genetic or memetic information is what we call culture. He argues:
James A. Donald offers the insight that:
who argues elsewhere that:
Jon Kilgannon and Mark Sachs (A Miracle of Science) offer speculative insights into Science Related Memetic Disorder:
One blog argued in 2007 that:
But other than the excessive focus on religion as a belief system, there seem to have been no systematic approaches to memetic diseases. Classification of information diseases (and memetic diseases)A much more specific range of system malfunctions is effectively represented by the range of diseases -- the human organism being that which has attracted most attention and resources. Diseases of the human system have been incorporated into a detailed classification scheme by the World Health Organization (International Classification of Diseases -- ICD). As well as general medical diseases, the ICD includes a section classifying mental and behavioral disorders. To the extent that there is even a faint parallel between the human body and a social organization (as has often been pointed out), such a classification can then be used to provide suggestive pointers to the kinds of information malfunctions that may occur both in individuals and in the networks they form. (It is indeed possible that a classification of animal or plant diseases might provide some additional insights and it would also be interesting to compare this exercise with an attempt to classify disruptions to environmental ecosystems). As with the experiment in producing an Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (1976/1994), there will be some who consider that the very effort to identity such diseases is misplaced (even "unlucky") and likely to invoke what it supposedly aims to guard against. This is however a misguided form of "positive thinking", if it is through the prevalence of such diseases that efforts to facilitate networking are in fact impeded or undermined (Being Positive Avoiding Negativity: management challenge of positive vs negative, 2005). A clearer understanding of the factors resisting the growth of networking is required. The remainder of this article is therefore concerned with identifying the kinds of questions which might be asked concerning the networking diseases associated with each of the major categories in the WHO International Classification of Diseases. It is for the reader to determine how seriously the results are to be taken particularly if, as a member of a network, he or she recognizes many possible symptoms as being characteristic of that network ! Having identified such diseases, providing they have a basis in reality, the question is then how to move towards devising suitable cures and preventive measures. It may well be that network "health" is associated with the kind of tension which results from the "tensed network" approach advocated elsewhere (Tensed networks; balancing and focusing network dynamics in response to networking diseases, 1978). . But many other avenues could be explored.
Excesses in the information dietAn individual or network may engage in information consumption dangerously in excess of requirements for normal development. The quantity may be imbalanced in some way in which case the challenges are better understood in terms of deficiencies (see below). Indicative of possible excesses in the information diet are the well-recognized (although possibly controversial) excesses in the food diet: Excess consumption of information sugars (carbohydrates)?: Modern foodstuffs and lifestyle choices typically lead to the excessive consumption of sugars (notably through "soft drinks"). This is a significant factor in increasing vulnerability to diabetes -- a major problem worldwide. Given the ways in which sugar is used metaphorically as an indication of all that is "sweet", " nice" and "desirable", and the lifestyle preferences for those qualities, this suggests a probability that preference for "good news" information (in contrast to a more challenging information diet) may increase vulnerability to an information analogue to diabetes. It is noteworthy that diabetes is a major problem in indigenous communities forcefully brought into contact with the dietary options of modern civilization -- alienating them from their more balanced traditional diets. The possibly problematic character of "sweetners" in an information diet may be powerfully illustrated by increasing recognition of the health risks of omnipresent artificial sweetners, notably aspartame(suspected of links to cancer). Excess consumption of information fats?: Modern foodstuffs and lifestyle preferences (notably for "fast foods") have resulted in an increasing problem of obesity worldwide. This is a significant factor in increasing vulnerability to cardiovascular diseases. Can styles of information consumption be seen as analogous to such consumption of fats and severely reduced preferences for exercise in any form. Does this lead to a form of "information obesity" -- a knowledge analogue to the "couch potato" phenomenon? Is this what is recognized in such terms as "armchair philosopher", "armchair soldier" or "armchair activist"? The challenge of "information obesity" may be further explored in terms of the past programme on Information Overload and Information Underuse (IOIU) of the United Nations University. Excess consumption of information vitamins?: **** *** stimulants Deficiencies in the information dietDietary deficiencies in the individual are disorders that occur because of a lack of essential nutrients in the diet, or because the body cannot absorb and process those nutrients once they are eaten. The question here is whether individuals (or their networks and communities) may also suffer from deficiencies in their "information diet" to which the nutrient deficiencies offer useful pointers. This question has credibility given a probable degree of isomorphism between such information-dependent systems in the light of general systems theory. The human body is dependent for its health and growth on some 50 nutritional components that have been clustered into five nutritional groups: proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats and carbohydrate. Most dietary deficiency diseases are caused by a lack of the first three of these. Some sense of their lack is implied by such expressions as "information starvation", "knowledge starvation" and "misinformation" -- or even a "lack of energy".. Deficiencies in information protein?: Is there a form of information protein that is an essential component of all information processing and associated knowledge activity? How is its absence to be recognized when information processing is impaired or inhibited? Is there a disorder analogous to protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) that is indicative of analogues to calorie (energy) and protein deficiency disorders (such as kwashiorkor and marasmus), so prevalent in developing countries where people lack sufficient food? What might then be the nature of the information food that would counteract such propensities? Deficiencies in information vitamins?: Are there information analogues to the 13 vitamins essential for healthy physical growth, development, cell function, and metabolism. What are the information equivalents to vitamins A, C, D, E, K, and the eight B vitamins (together forming the B complex)? Is there indeed a sense in which information all vitamins must be taken into the body from "outside information sources" (with the exception of vitamins D and K)?
Deficiencies in information minerals?: *** Deficiencies in information fats?: *** Deficiencies in information carbohydrates?: *** Alternative and complementary models of information health and diseaseComplementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is applied an umbrella term integrating complementary medicine and alternative medicine. Typical examples of CAM approaches to individual health are herbalism, meditation, chiropractic, yoga, body work and diet-based therapies. In extending their understanding of health beyond that of conventional medicine, such therapies may effectively recognize forms of information or knowledge disease. Of particular interest in that respect is a notion of "negativity" and the association of of information and knowledge health with "positivity". Problematic aspects of such framing are discussed elsewhere (Being Positive Avoiding Negativity: management challenge of positive vs negative, 2005). It is also the case that, from the perspective of conventional medicine, belief in either complementary or alternative therapies may themselves be understood as memetic diseases in their own right -- just as CAM therapists may consider belief in conventional therapies to be similarly dysfunctional. Irrespective of these views, it is clear that CAM perspectives offer a rich array of frameworks through which a "complementary" and "alternative" range of understandings of information and knowledge diseases may emerge. Of particular interest is the importance attached to such frameworks in non-western cultures. More generally, new insight into information and knowledge diseases may emerge from the tendency of CAM therapies to focus holistically and integratively on the "whole person". How might this insight enrich the understanding of individual and collective "well-being"? Supplements to an information diet and inexplicable information needsGiven the concept of an information diet (as explored above), it may then be asked whether there are analogues considered essential as psychological "nutritional" supplements to information vitamins, minerals, fatty acids or amino acids -- namely considered as missing or consumed in insufficient quantity in the information diet of an individual or a network. One approach is to consider the manner in which public media programming slots are variously allocated to sport, humour, sitcoms, action movies, music, romance, glamour, food, etc. Further refinements can be considered in the light of preferences for kinds of music, for example. The role of humour is especially interesting in deliberately breaking out of conventional cognitive frameworks and the "relief" it offers from such frameworks (cf Humour and Play-Fullness: essential integrative processes in governance, religion and transdisciplinarity, 2005). Satire may be seen in this context. It is in this sense that playfullness may be of unsuspected importance in the response to challenging collective problems (Playfully Changing the Prevailing Climate of Opinion: climate change as focal metaphor of effective global governance, 2005). Such considerations suggest a fruitful way of thinking about the "information supplements" valued in traditional societies and non-western cultures. Two clusters are of interest as what may be tantamount to a "multivitamin" information complex:
More systematically it may be asked whether classical sets of "virtues" and "sins" can be analyzed to determine the fundamental "information supplements" vital to the successful navigation of knowledge society, as explored elsewhere (Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2007; Towards a Logico-mathematical Formalization of "Sin" Fundamental memetic organization of faith-based governance strategies, 2004). Given the achievements of the industrialized world using a particular information diet (promoted by the dominant, official, socio-political mindset), the issue of supplements to such a diet is especially interesting in the light of individual dependency on relief from that diet (even by those who promote the official diet in their professional capacity). Examples of information supplements that may be considered vital to rendering life tolerable are:
Much more problematic is the sensed need for pornography, and the like, as exemplified by some surprising cases subject to criminal investigation and media publicity. Mental disorders as disorders of information processingThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), produced by the American Psychiatric Association, provides a classification of disorders which is compatible with the relevant section of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) discussed above. Clearly the many physical manifestations of disease can be interpreted as disorders of information processing understood in terms of biochemical signals and their effects on the body. Analogues can be explored, as above, to disorders in the ways in which information is processed in knowledge and cognition. In the case of mental disorders, these are more clearly to be understood as disorders in cognitive information processing in their own right. However, whereas the above interpretation focused on a form of objectivity to the information analogue, of particular interest is the manner in which mental disorders raise highly controversial issues regarding the existence and role of the unconscious. An example is provided by the study of Howard F. Stein (The Influence of Psychogeography upon the Conduct of International Relations: clinical and metapsychological considerations. 2008) who argues:
One fruitful approach is therefore to explore such mental disorders of the individual as providing insights into the information processing disorders to which networks, groups and other collectivities are vulnerable. This has notably been undertaken elsewhere in the case of memory (Societal Learning and the Erosion of Collective Memory: a critique of the Club of Rome Report: No Limits to Learning, 1980). Related themes are explored by Richard Koenigsberg (The Human Body Becomes a Body Politic, 2006; The Nation's Disease, 2006; Nations are Bodies, 2006). Especially relevant to any classification of knowledge-related diseases are the insights into mapping such problematic information relations into knots -- as pioneered by psychiatrist Ronald Laing (Knots, 1970; also movie). His photograph in Wikipedia represents him reading the The Ashley Book of Knots (1944), profiling some 2000. This theme was developed by psychiatrist Jacques Lacan, notably from 1972, in terms of the topology of knots (see Lacan: Topologically Speaking, 2004, edited by Dragan Milovanovic and Ellie Ragland). For Laing (1970), in a much cited phrase:
Emergence of "social diseases" in association with "social networking"?Much has been made of the sexual freedoms that became possible in the West from the 1960s through which permissiveness and promiscuity acquired a degree of acceptability in many sectors of society. Much has been made of the "social diseases" -- as a reframing of "sexually transmitted disease" -- that increased as a consequence. The problematic developments were exacerbated by the emergence of HIV/AIDS, and the urban myths surrounding the development of that disease. This has of course resulted in many "safe sex" programmes. Of relevance to this discussion is a possible analogy to the phase of sexual freedoms from the 1960s, now to be found in the permissiveness and promiscuity of "intercourse" through "social networking" via the internet. There is of course an awareness of the threat of exchange of viruses (and other malware) between those participating in such intercourse -- with many protective programmes available. The question is whether some information analogue to HIV/AIDS may emerge within the social networking environment? "Social disease" is also understood more broadly to include those arising from dietary lifestyle fashions. Thus obesity has been explored as a social disease -- associated with the nature of social contact (Obesity: A Social Disease, 2007; Obesity Spreads In Social Circles As Trends Do, Study Indicates, 2007). Public healthThe above focus on the individual, and on the networks in which an individual may participate, obscures the relevance of these preoccupations for what might be the public health analogue, namely the study and practice of managing threats to the health of a community as a whole -- to the "body social" understood here as the "body of knowledge". This focus is clearly of concern in use of the terms "cultural virus" and "memetic viruses" as noted above. Beyond the particular view of religions as cultural viruses, the question for such "public health" is the extent to which any belief system, including science (as it is widely practiced by mutually hostile disciplines), should be understood as a challenge to the health of the "body of knowledge". In the debate about the emergence of a global brain, it is appropriate to reflect on the diseases to which it may be vulnerable (cf Knowledge "corruption" and possible "diseases" of the global brain discussed in Simulating a Global Brain -- using networks of international organizations, world problems, strategies, and values, 2001). Such concerns may be especially appropriate in the light of the threat of "memetic warfare" (Missiles, Missives, Missions and Memetic Warfare: navigation of strategic interfaces in multidimensional knowledge space, 2001). Such issues relate to what might be termed the "diseases of collective intelligence" of which "silo vision", "tunnel vision" and "groupthink" are examples (Groupthink: the Search for Archaeoraptor as a Metaphoric Tale missing the link between "freedom fighters" and "terrorists", 2002). Also of interest is the extent to which many public debates are in some way symptomatic of information/knowledge/memetic diseases (and the autoimmune responses thereto) -- especially when they involve unusual degrees of special pleading and obtuse denial. Examples for consideration in this respect include: climate change, food crisis, water crisis, overpopulation, energy crisis, unemployment, etc. It is ironical that the process by which the facts of such matters are collectively "digested" by the international community can fruitfully be said to be accompanied by a phenomenon best described as analogous to "flatulence" -- whether or not it empowers any other form of activity. This is especially ironic in the case of "carbon emissions", but is especially tragic where some degree of urgency is called for as in Zimbabwe or Dafur.
Potential implications of "causes of death" for "information death"The metaphor of information diseases and disorders can be further explored in terms of its implications for causes of death -- given some recognition of "psychological death" or "death of the spirit" -- perhaps recognized through such phrases as "dying of a broken heart". Wikipedia presents the following list of causes of death based on data of the World Health Organization (The World Health Report 2004) -- the items have been regrouped in the following adaptation. The question implied by the added column on the right, is what might be the information, memetic or knowledge analogues?
A more succinct table, that might be more useful for this exploration, is available for the USA (Ben Best, Causes of Death). Its associated Life Extension Values Clarification Survey implies the possibility of relating such a survey to some form of information death. This brings the focus closer to a more generic understanding of "well-being". Of related interest, any understanding of information or knowledge analogues to "causes of death" in the case of individuals might be usefully associated with the societal and cultural focus on the demise of civilizations (Jared M. Diamond, Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed, 2005; Thomas Homer-Dixon, The Upside of Down: catastrophe, creativity, and the renewal of civilization, 2006; Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable, 2007). In the case of cardiovascular diseases as the major cause of death, a more speculative argument is developed elsewhere (Spontaneous Initiation of Armageddon: a heartfelt response to systemic negligence, 2004). Sensory deprivation and Insight enhancement?It is curious that a major context for torture is the form of isolation associated with deliberate sensory deprivation -- one of the so-called five techniques. This may be understood as a severely restricted information diet -- beyond "malnutrition" to "information starvation". This readily leads to mental disorders and delusions -- deliberately cultivated in order to disorient the person subject to these conditions. It might be understood as deliberately infecting the person with an "information disease". One question would be to what physical diseases are these information diseases then analogous? Of related interest -- as a concept of some form of torture -- is the concept of the destruction of the human brain, and information within it, to such an extent that recovery of the original mind and person that occupied the brain is theoretically impossible by any physical means"information-theoretic death, namely the destruction of the human brain, and information within it, to such an extent that recovery of the original mind and person that occupied the brain is theoretically impossible by any physical means. From this perspective it is perhaps even more curious that a form of sensory deperivation is deliberately sought as a means of personal development and of enhancing insight. This may take the form of use of a sensory deprivation tank (or isolation tank) in which the person stays for a period of hours. It is however also the case that individuals may seek a monastic lifestyle -- or possibly choose to live in some form of reclusion in a hermitage, whether associated with a particular religion or not. A feature of this preference may be a form of sensory deprivation through the elimination of "distractions" (as highlighted in Buddhism). One objective of such solitude may be some form of insight enhancement -- perhaps as the remedy for information diseases of some kind. Ironically (given the issue of "information death" described above) it may be described, and sought, as a form of "death" understood as associated with a form of well-being -- "beyond" the information diseases of ordinary life, through a process of detachment and a shift of perspective ("ego death"). This deliberate subjection to a form of "information disease" can be provocatively compared with the understanding (cited above) of religion as a "memetic disease". How indeed is a religion -- defined as a "self-referential belief system", understood as "simple and repetitive" and incorporating "vicious circles of false reasoning" -- to be distinguished from the forms of insight sought in such isolation and solitude? More provocatively, in an information society highly influenced by media priorities, it is appropriate to question the implications of "dumbing down" debate, effectively (over)simplifying an individual's information context. Developmental psychologists note the advantages of a complex environment to stimulate neuronal development at an early age. External complexity at a later stage, notably for elders, has also been recognized as sustaining brain function. Where such external complexity is lacking in an impoverished information environment, the latter may function as a form of mirror engendering the generation of internal complexity -- a process of self-reflection. How this difference in recognized complexity is managed is clearly of interest to individual and collective well-being. The cognitive challenge is raised and formalized by the study of Ron Atkin (Multidimensional Man: Can man live in three dimensional space? 1981) summarized elsewhere. The challenge has been highlighted in various works of mathematical fiction regarding the experience of space of different dimensionality (Edwin A. Abbott. Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions, 1884; Dionys Burge, A Fantasy About Curved Spaces and an Expanding Universe, 1965; Ian Stewart, Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So, 2002). "Knowledge diseases" and "Wisdom diseases"As noted in the introduction, there is a case for extending understanding of "information" far beyond the biological metaphor of "disease" -- for which the terms "knowledge disorders" or information disorders" may be more appropriate. One schema to clarify the possible scope is provided in the following table (reproduced from Diversity of Understandings of any Universe of Information -- from matter-as-information to cosmic consciousness, 2006 as Annex 1 to Towards an Astrophysics of the Knowledge Universe: from astronautics to noonautics? 2006).
Within this context, a challenging form of information disorder -- perhaps to be understood as a knowledge disorder -- is that of groupthink. The significance of the latter was explicitly recognized in relation to the intelligence disaster associated with 9/11 and its follow-up (Groupthink: the Search for Archaeoraptor as a Metaphoric Tale missing the link between "freedom fighters" and "terrorists", 2002). A strong case for investigation of "knowledge disorders" is in effect made in the advocacy of critical thinking and in the development of the skills of discernment (cf Critical Thinking vs Specious Arguments, 2001). Variants of this term do not appear to be used although it is the focus of a chapter of the Chinese classic the Tao Te Ching
Some of the challenges of knowing have been admirably articulated by the US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld in the following widely publicized poem (Hart Seely, The Poetry of D.H. Rumsfeld: recent works by the secretary of defense. 2 April 2003).
Such subtlety (recalling Laing's knots) in no way prevented the initiation of programs of torture, invasive information gathering and disinformation -- unprecedented in any modern democratic society supposedly founded on democratic principles. This may be seen as a complement to the electronic surveillance previously initiated under the code name ECHELON. A more recent variant is indicated by the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Information Directorate of a programme to "stealthily exfiltrate information" from any computer in the world and ultimately "be able to affect computer information systems through Deceive, Deny, Disrupt, Degrade, Destroy (D5) effects." (Online warfare research outlined, The Washington Times, 15 May 2008). These 5D's might be fruitfully compared -- as knowledge diseases -- with the five interrogation techniques mentioned above. The question to be asked is the extent to which these preoccupations constitute a fundamental "knowledge disease" focused on a dysfunctional obsessive form of knowing -- to be contrasted with the forms of "not knowing" to which the Tao Te Ching alludes -- namely a mode of "knowing less" in contrast with the ECHELON commitment to "knowing more", as argued elsewhere (From ECHELON to NOLEHCE: enabling a strategic conversion to a faith-based global brain, 2007). From a philosophical perspective, various studies have inveighed against "philosophical diseases" (Josef Seifert, The Philosophical Diseases of Medicine and Their Cure: philosophy and ethics of medicine, 2004). It is however to be expected that any philosophy may be inclined to frame alternative perspectives as an instance of some form of cognitive disorder. Ludwig Wittgenstein specifically undertook his work as a remedy for certain forms of philosophical disease -- as he understood them. Each philosophy may be understoiod as a form of cure for knowledge diseases that preceded its formulation. More generally, in the light of the focus of the above quote from the Tao Te Ching, is the possibility of what might be described as "wisdom diseases" or "diseases of wisdom". It is to these that the subtlest injunctions of some Eastern philosophies are presumably addressed as tentatively explored elsewhere (Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2007). Works like the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching, as "books of wisdom", are especially interesting because of their systematic organization -- suggesting the possibility of a systemic approach to the cognitive challenges of individual and collective decision-making in the face of vulnerabilities to a range of "cognitive disorders" (see Documents relating to Patterns of I Ching / Tao te Ching). The challenge is to "mine" such insight, as argued elsewhere (Enhancing the Quality of Knowing through Integration of East-West metaphors, 2000; Susantha Goonatilake. Toward a Global Science: mining civilizational knowledge, 1999). Value and ethical diseases and disorders?The above context could fruitfully raise the question as to the nature of value "diseases" or "disorders" and whether they could also be articulated in the light of the metaphorical template of diseases of the body. Religions, such as Christianity, have a strong interest in moral and ethical "disorders". William J. Meyer (Political Ethics and Political Authority, Ethics, 86, 1, 1975, pp. 61-69) focuses on "ethical disorders". One notion of "value disorders" is framed in a fruitful way from a Chinese perspective by (Chien-Feng Yang, Respect: A Living Attitude in Postmodern Society, 2005; A Postmodern Narrative about Ethical Life, 2007) developing the critiques of Zygmunt Bauman (Postmodern Ethics, 1993; Postmodernity and its discontents, 1997; Does Ethics Have a Chance in a World of Consumers? 2008) and the postmodern emphasis on individualism, liberty and multiple values of society. Chien-Feng Yang notes:
E. Wenk (The Double Helix: technology and democracy in the American future, 1999) stresses the need to shift analysis beyond the tangible to "ethical disorders" relating to human behaviour or misbehavior. Such possibilities, in the light of the subtle systematic cognitive explorations of Buddhism (for example), have been explored elsewhere in studies cited above (Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2007; Towards a Logico-mathematical Formalization of "Sin" Fundamental memetic organization of faith-based governance strategies, 2004). Basically the question is whether classical sets of "virtues" and "sins" can be analyzed to determine the nature of the value disorders to which they respond -- and the fundamental "supplements" vital to the successful navigation of knowledge society. Another approach is through exploration of the range of global ethical declarations and the implication here that they might have been effectively designed in response to an array of "ethical disorders" -- and might therefore be fruitfully compared (from a cybernetic systems perspective) with the array of physical diseases above. Clearly the key example is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But one question is what might be effectively missing from such a "rights" perspective, as explored elsewhere (Universal Declaration of the Rights of Human Organization: an experimental extension of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1971; Universal Declaration of Responsibilities of Human Intercourse: a draft proposal, 2007; Universal Declaration of Patent Responsibilities: a draft proposal, 2007). Of possibly greater significance is the need to render comprehensible and meaningful such complex systemic structures -- as "ethical diets" or "value regimes". Given the traditional "legendary" merit of music in relation to the "healing" of subtle disorders of the (collective) spirit, its relevance to such declarations has been explored elsewhere (A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006; Participative Development Process for Singable Declarations, 2006). Preliminary conclusionsThe text above is designed to provoke an imaginative examination of the current information health of individuals and their networks. A first comment is that in discussing diseases one should take care to avoid engaging in medical "quackery" -- how that might be understood being part of the challenge in this context. And indeed some management consultants give the impression of attempting to provide imaginary cures for real organizational ills, or real cures for imaginary ills (cf. the role of the "snake oil" vendor). But such processes might themselves be seen as fruitful examples of information diseases. This in fact suggests a complementary approach in which known information errors -- failures of critical thinking -- are themselves used to to identify a pattern of such diseases. Cynicism is a good example. Further examples should be collected from a variety of sources (stimulated in different ways by. the above presentation) before relating them to any classification as above. A systematic grouping cases would be premature, at this point. In relation to the 1978 version of this paper, the discussion brought out a number of points:
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