[Sigia-l] morality in IA

[Laura Scheirer Quinn]

I didn't mean to imply that I disagree that a gut can be very powerful (anyone read "Sources of Power"?)-- to disagree with my own word choice here, there's a lot of research (as per the article) that shows that a "gut instinct" is really amassed from experienced intepretion of a whole bunch of unconsiously amassed information.
 
What I'm talking about it more a willful disregard for data that exists-- which definetely also happens. So for instance, I recently saw a sports show that had a brief clip with an economics professor who had developed an equation which estimates the probablity, based on knowable factors, of making a first down if they go for it on the fourth down.  He determined that people are generally way to conservative; that probablistically they would do better if they went for it more often-- and apparently this synchs up with a common propensity to focus on the downside.  The whole tone of the article was really joking... they showed a bunch of people reviewing the equation and saying "well, I have no idea what this means," and "well, you can tell this guy's not down on the field" and "well, i'm not managing by equation, it's all a gut feel at the point in the game."  Now, maybe it's not something they need by their side every moment of the day, but it seems somewhat applicable and useful, no?  Certainly I don't believe that their gut feel for this type of stuff is way better than a actual method for determining probablity...
 
I'm not at all saying that we shouldn't do anything without research.  I'm more saying that we have a responsibility to not believe things (say, guidelines) without reason, or to move forward arbitrarily.

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: morry at webproducers.org [mailto:morry at webproducers.org] 
	Sent: Fri 11/15/2002 1:42 PM 
	To: Laura Scheirer Quinn; sigia-l at asis.org 
	Cc: 
	Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] morality in IA
	
	

	Speaking of gut has anyone else seen the recent article by Thomas A. Stewart author of Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations.
	
	"But to researchers who study how managers think, the tales carry an obvious moral: The most brilliant decisions tend to come from the gut. While that observation is not new, it is now backed by a growing body of research from economics, neurology, cognitive psychology, and other fields."
	
	http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,44584,FF.html
	
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	------------------------------------------------
	On Fri, 15 Nov 2002 11:29:05 -0500, "Laura Scheirer Quinn" <Laura.Quinn at IntraSphere.com> wrote:
	
	> >Does anyone else feel like what we do isn't just mucking around in the dotpop
	> >land anymore? that we have obligations?
	>
	> This has begun to bother me too recently.  In particular, I've been reading a lot (too much apparently) about the meaning of truth, and the ethical mandate people have to search for the truth rather than just assume or make decisions based on a gut feel... a lot of philosophy gets rather harsh on this point-- that just going with your gut is akin to perpetuating an environment of stupidity.
	>
	> And so much of what we do is based on on gut, assumptions, feeling.  While I nearly always propose research, I rarely get to do it.  American society as a whole downplays any value of research.  All the time you see stuff in the media that proclaims the benefit of gut feel and downplays data as stogy and tiresome, and all the time people refute the research I have done telling me I must have misheard or misinterpreted, because it conflicts with their gut. 
	>
	> I suppose my ethical mandate probably can't extend to telling my clients they're perpetuating an environment of stupidity, or refusing to make decisions based on assuptions, at least if I want to keep my job, but I wish I could come up with something practical to do.  It's really begin to bother me.
	>
	> laura s. quinn
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