To inform our understanding of the present

March 12, 2008

Sitting in a hotel in Canberra (with free internet access, an Australian first) I was watching a late night programme on ABC which included a film review of The Other Bolyn Girl. Everyone knows Ann and probably the rhyme for the eight wives: divorced, executed, died, divorced, executed ,survived. Now I would have thought that most people knew that Henry VIII first had an affair with Ann’s sister Mary but both reviewers professed ignorance of this fact of history. I was surprised to say the least. I may be getting into a curmudgeonly mood on this, but I would expect a higher level of general knowledge in television presenters of serious arts programmes. Lack of such knowledge seems to invalidate some of their opinions. I often say that hindsight does not lead to foresight, but that is no excuse for not being aware of the past, to inform our understanding of our present and possible futures.

I suppose one reason for my disspointment is that the ABC has some of the best and most educated programmes around. From the ever delightful Phil Adams, to some of the best broadcast material on philosophy and cognitive sciences I know – check out their pod casts for rich material, freely available that puts the BBC to shame at times.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

About the Cynefin Company

The Cynefin Company (formerly known as Cognitive Edge) was founded in 2005 by Dave Snowden. We believe in praxis and focus on building methods, tools and capability that apply the wisdom from Complex Adaptive Systems theory and other scientific disciplines in social systems. We are the world leader in developing management approaches (in society, government and industry) that empower organisations to absorb uncertainty, detect weak signals to enable sense-making in complex systems, act on the rich data, create resilience and, ultimately, thrive in a complex world.
ABOUT USSUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

Cognitive Edge Ltd. & Cognitive Edge Pte. trading as The Cynefin Company and The Cynefin Centre.

© COPYRIGHT 2024

< Prev

but we had a tenor ….

I was not looking forward to being away for the Triple Crown match, but as ...

More posts

Next >

We’re all learners now

If you’re involved in organisational change you’ll be aware that - like reincarnation - four ...

More posts

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram