data != information != knowledge != wisdom != truth

Whilst reading this fun posting on the subject of Intelligent Design (surely, something we in the OpenSolaris universe know a lot about!) I was taken with the blog’s heading:

  • DATA IS NOT INFORMATION
  • INFORMATION IS NOT KNOWLEDGE
  • KNOWLEDGE IS NOT WISDOM
  • WISDOM IS NOT TRUTH

I like it because it speaks to little things (such as the blogosphere), and big things (such as the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, everything).

Another posting
explains the caption’s origins. As a blog disclaimer, it is rather more useful than this:

THE INDIVIDUALS WHO POST HERE WORK AT SUN MICROSYSTEMS. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE ARE THEIR OWN, ARE NOT NECESSARILY REVIEWED IN ADVANCE BY ANYONE BUT THE INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS, AND NEITHER SUN NOR ANY OTHER PARTY NECESSARILY AGREES WITH THEM.

4 thoughts on “data != information != knowledge != wisdom != truth

  1. Sorry for stating the obvious(?) but the “question of life, the universe, everything” is already solved …. it’s 42, right …. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  2. Einstein said “Information is not Knowledge” but it was Frank Zappa who expanded it into a kind of negative ring of logic:
    “Information is
    not knowledge
    Knowledge is
    not wisdom
    Wisdom is not truth
    Truth is not beauty
    Beauty is not love
    Love is not music
    Music is THE BEST…
    Wisdom is the domain
    of the Wis
    (which is extinct).
    Beauty is a French
    phonetic corruption
    Of a short cloth
    neck ornament
    Currently in
    resurgence… ”
    http://www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/albums/Joe_s_Garage/17.html
    -Chuck

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