4 ms·

What should (hopefully) happen is that after a period of adjustment, people will respect your right to be different in different walks of life. They'll underst

What should (hopefully) happen is that after a period of adjustment, people will respect your right to be different in different walks of life. They'll understand that it's possible, and indeed desirable, to be reliable and professional at work while still being immature with your kids and occasionally irresponsible with your friends. What really needs to change is the need to maintain the appearance of being different people (because you're always you, unless you have severe psychological issues you aren't really different people). People need to understand that what I do at home and what I do at work needn't overlap. It's just an extension of the adjustment that started with dress down - an understanding that wearing jeans didn't make me any less smart than wearing a suit. People will understand that playing Mario Kart while drunk with my friends doesn't make me less able than if I spent that time reading Dickens.

tel 16y ago
I agree with this (optimistic) opinion a whole lot. I'd like to see that world come about. The interesting part is when it comes to people who are already public figures. How do political, religious, or any other charisma-derived leaders cope with the fact that their public images can be ruthlessly criticized? Even more optimistically, I hope for acceptance and a greater understanding of the narrative of the changing personality throughout life. I hope for a public realization that some politicians even under total transparency are good enough to be leaders. I also hope that this transparency actually becomes a valuable filter on good leaders. So it's in those hopes that I sort of am happy to hear that our online personas are slowly eclipsing our generative, "real" personas.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  I suspect that people will have no choice but to be more tolerant as there won't be people who are entirely blemish free when faced with the increased level of scrutiny. David Brin's "The Transparent Society" has some interesting things to say about this sort of transparency. While I'm not 100% sold on his conclusions the analysis is well worth reading and thinking about.
SoftwareMaven 16y ago
I hope that is the case, but I'm not convinced it will be. It really seems like most people are using the internet to connect with more people like themselves, which seems to be leading to an overall reduction in the amount of tolerance people have for differences. There are certainly pockets of increased respect and caring, but I'm afraid those are the exception and not the rule. (I fully admit to being cynical and pessimistic, so it may just be my muddled worldview showing through.)
timwiseman 16y ago
People need to understand that what I do at home and what I do at work needn't overlap. The problem is they often do unavoidably, at least for certain specific professions. Imagine a Preacher/priest/etc involved in a major moral scandal regarding his major. He would lose moral authority in his congregation. Even just being known to get wildly drunk and play Mario Kart on Saturday is likely to affect his ability to provide the leadership he must. The same applies, in slightly different ways, to senior military officers. On the other hand, if I find out that one of my programmers is doing substantial hobby programming, I would certainly see that as a positive. Not because it directly affects what he does at work now, but because it will almost certainly make him a superior programmer in the long run. You can, and should, separate them to a degree, but especially for public facting positions you cannot and should not try to create an absolute separation.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  In the first instance though the events you list are not unrelated to the profession - they are linked and reasonably so. If someone stands up in the pulpet on Sunday and tells me about the evils of drink and adultery and then promptly disappears to get wasted and have sex with a married woman then that absolutely should impact his moral authority. Some positions come with expectations that are entirely reasonable - medicine, most religious posts, teaching and so on. The point is that minor, cosmetic and irrelevant indiscretions will come to be accepted, not just any behaviour.

tel 16y ago

I agree with this (optimistic) opinion a whole lot. I'd like to see that world come about. The interesting part is when it comes to people who are already public figures. How do political, religious, or any other charisma-derived leaders cope with the fact that their public images can be ruthlessly criticized? Even more optimistically, I hope for acceptance and a greater understanding of the narrative of the changing personality throughout life. I hope for a public realization that some politicians even under total transparency are good enough to be leaders. I also hope that this transparency actually becomes a valuable filter on good leaders. So it's in those hopes that I sort of am happy to hear that our online personas are slowly eclipsing our generative, "real" personas.

Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
I suspect that people will have no choice but to be more tolerant as there won't be people who are entirely blemish free when faced with the increased level of scrutiny. David Brin's "The Transparent Society" has some interesting things to say about this sort of transparency. While I'm not 100% sold on his conclusions the analysis is well worth reading and thinking about.

SoftwareMaven 16y ago

I hope that is the case, but I'm not convinced it will be. It really seems like most people are using the internet to connect with more people like themselves, which seems to be leading to an overall reduction in the amount of tolerance people have for differences. There are certainly pockets of increased respect and caring, but I'm afraid those are the exception and not the rule. (I fully admit to being cynical and pessimistic, so it may just be my muddled worldview showing through.)

timwiseman 16y ago

People need to understand that what I do at home and what I do at work needn't overlap. The problem is they often do unavoidably, at least for certain specific professions. Imagine a Preacher/priest/etc involved in a major moral scandal regarding his major. He would lose moral authority in his congregation. Even just being known to get wildly drunk and play Mario Kart on Saturday is likely to affect his ability to provide the leadership he must. The same applies, in slightly different ways, to senior military officers. On the other hand, if I find out that one of my programmers is doing substantial hobby programming, I would certainly see that as a positive. Not because it directly affects what he does at work now, but because it will almost certainly make him a superior programmer in the long run. You can, and should, separate them to a degree, but especially for public facting positions you cannot and should not try to create an absolute separation.

Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
In the first instance though the events you list are not unrelated to the profession - they are linked and reasonably so. If someone stands up in the pulpet on Sunday and tells me about the evils of drink and adultery and then promptly disappears to get wasted and have sex with a married woman then that absolutely should impact his moral authority. Some positions come with expectations that are entirely reasonable - medicine, most religious posts, teaching and so on. The point is that minor, cosmetic and irrelevant indiscretions will come to be accepted, not just any behaviour.