FOSE Keynote: General James Cartwright

General James Cartwright

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
US Department of Defense
(Retired August 3, 2011)


As the opening keynote speaker for the recent FOSE Conference and Exposition, General James Cartwright provided a great back-drop against which to judge the rest of the conference.
General Cartwright began his speech by reminding us that the United States has been actively “at war” for close to 10 years, now. This has been a very expensive proposition, of course, but during that period, we have also recognized that in a world of multi-national conglomerates and social media, the “Nation-state construct” takes on new meaning.

In 1969 we landed a man on the moon, and in the same year, we had the first transfer of packet data between two computers. While many of us are awed by the achievement of the former; 40 years later, it is the latter that currently has societies across the globe in the throes of revolution. The world is moving from an industrial society to an information society, and we all need to keep up. This process is causing the blurring between geographical, religious, cultural, and language boundaries.

The key to General Cartwright’s speech was the need for today’s knowledge workers to thrive in an ever-changing environment. Because today we have access to huge amounts of data on any given subject, we have to learn how to filter that data and make decisions. This can lead to making imperfect decisions, but my favorite quote from the general’s speech was, “Perfect information – late – is useless; paralysis will make your decisions irrelevant.” We have to learn to shed our perfectionism in preference to action and correction.

When taken in context with the rest of the conference, the speech offers a nice overview of the major challenges currently facing the US government:

• Big Data: Tons and tons of data, but decision makers struggle to gain concise and useful insight into this data.
• Cyber Security: As these international boundaries blur and change, the United States must protect itself and its citizens against nebulous and anonymous threats from around the world.
• Mobile capabilities: As mobile technology continues to improve, government agencies need to come to grips with this new technology.
• The resulting compromises that US citizens will have to make and negotiate with the government: privacy vs. security vs. convenience.
• Overcoming the stagnation of big bureaucracy: When leaders see the solutions and goals they have on the horizon, it can be nearly impossible to “bring the ship around” and point it in the right direction.

My take: Things move too fast in our ever-changing, new, information-based world to wait for the perfect answers all the time, but at the same time, we need to have a firm grasp on the solution we are seeking. Making those snap decisions in the heat of the moment is much easier when you can refer back to an over-arching mission and guiding principles.

Amy Smith's rules for design in the developing world are most insightful. I particularly appreciated the reference to the Leonardo Da Vinci quote: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication".

The concept is relatively common. In most professional fields, there is the common saying, "KISS: Keep It Simple S(illy, tupid, etc). However, I have often viewed that as an admonishment against allowing your designs and / or plans grow in complexity beyond their necessity. After reading this, I think the other explanation makes good sense, too. "Do the hard work needed to find a simple solution"

This concept is also common in many technical fields, and I think applying this as a guiding principle when hoping to enact social change is really inspiring. Too often, many arm-chair social engineers sit back and say, "If only such and such group would just do this." and "If only everyone donated $1 to such and such cause". Instead, it's important to look around and say, "If only I were more involved. I could make a difference here."

Things don't become simpler by saying they are. Someone needs to make them simpler.

Connectivity Without Expectation

Great interview on the Kojo Nnamdi Show today. Discussing the culture of online voyeurism that we're living in these days:

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2009-12-29/peep-culture-age-oversharing-rebroadcast

It's really hit home on how I've been feeling for about two years, now. I just identified it recently, but it occurs to me that what I've been working towards for the last two years isn't a committed relationship with a woman, but instead a "fan"

The guest touches on the concept of how narcissistic it is to rant out into the abyss on your Facebook page (or blog... heh.) and awaiting the adulation.

Very interesting broadcast, and very worthwhile to think about that in my own life. Am I actively engaging people just for the connection, but carefully avoiding setting up any expectations? Usually...

Privacy vs. Security

A great blurb from Bruce Schneier about America's current struggle between privacy and security. He makes the great point that it's really not about privacy vs. security, as it is about freedom vs. control:

Schneier on Security

Star Trek: Next Generation

Remember back when you had time to play video games all day?

Project Label

If you're trying to be socially responsible, you might find this little site helpful:

https://www.projectlabel.org/

They allow people to sign up to write article reviews of the company, and they use that information to create a "Social Nutritional Value" label for that company. Pretty neat stuff!

Bill Hicks

The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride...” But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus - murdered; Martin Luther King - murdered; Malcolm X - murdered; Gandhi - murdered; John Lennon - murdered; Reagan... wounded. But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace. ~Bill Hicks