4 posts tagged “ultimate truth”

The "ultimate truth" about the state of the web today is that there are far more questions than answers, more speculation than insight, and more postering than real understanding.  Which isn't to say that no one knows anything.  But I am saying that I think those who claim to be "in the know" on almost every aspect of the internet today, tend to know less than they claim.

Why?  Because this little thing we call the internet is a living, breathing "organism" on its own.  And if history has taught us anything, we should have figured out by now that what the internet looks like tomorrow will be far more than the sum of its designed parts. 

Now that I survived the "election time period", I've again immersed myself into trying to continue to understand various aspects of living and conducting business in the internet age.  A few of my thoughts are recorded over at netknowledge.blogspot.com.  (By the way, I find it to be truly ironic that what I have on Vox is far better indexed by Google than anything I have on the blog I just mentioned.  Blogspot is owned by Google, for those who didn't know.)  My most recent journey has taken me from search engine optimization and internet marketing, generally, to some more specific topics like cause-marketing via the internet and on Web 2.0.  For the time being, I causually slip in Web 2.0 because I'm going to pretend that I am convinved it's a worthy topic on its own.  More candidly, I would say "the jury is still out" on that one. 

But I get to say what I want and even contradict myself tomorrow.  I like to think that it's the beauty of the way I think - an opinion today doesn't matter tomorrow.  And the fact that I'm one of the only ones reading my blog on a daily basis at the moment, means that it's not likely anyone is going to call me on any BS that I post.  Thought sometimes the conversations I almost seem to have with myself by blogging here can be quite entertaining on a personal level.

Sidetracked.  Going back to my original statement, I would say that there are many illustrations.  But for those who would like to find an illustration that is easy to follow (due to sheer volume and attention given to the topic), you need not look further than the discussions of Web 2.0.  Is it real?  Is there substance to it?  Do 5 people gathered around a table at a Starbucks even know what the other is talking about when they mention web 2.0?  Probably not.  It's like saying "God" or "spirituality" and then expecting that everyone is thinking of the same entity or concept.

Is Web 2.0 simply a re-packaged set of marketing terms?  (Every once in a while, the soft drink makers will come up with a new design for bottles and cans.  Did the formula for the cola change?). 

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.  But looking at the most current (and past) discussions of Web 2.0 is a good illustration of what I like to think of as the "ulimate truth of the web today".  The fact is, people haven't even agreed on what they are talking about, let alone agree on where technology is headed. 

But that's the beauty of it.  Once again I hear myself saying, life would be boring if we all agreed with each other.  I have my own ideas about the internet, current and future.  But the last thing I want is for everyone to agree with me.  And I have my own secret little projects that I think will label me an innovator, but who's to say that what I think is right or real?

The ultimate truth about almost anything is that people are different; people have their own ideas; people will sometimes get along and sometimes they won't; some people are right, some people are wrong, and most spend time in each group.  In regards to technology and the internet, the truth is that concepts come and go, so do companies, so does technology itself.  One startup succeeds and another fails.  This has happened many times in the past, it probably happened somewhere today, and the future will be the same.

But we keep striving to discuss, innovate, build, and grow.  Passion for life and humanity will fuel even greater things.  So whether we're discussing technology, the internet, web 2.0, or anything else, it's the conversation itself that contains the greatest reward.  One of the ultimate truths of life is that life is in the journey and the conversation along the way. 

According to Google News, at this moment the "ultimate truth" is about God and the Pope's Address at Latern University.  At least it was in Italy roughly two hours ago.

His address given at Latern University on the 25th of October, 2006, (and I guess it was translated and posted two hours ago?) was titled "God Is the Ultimate Truth to Whom All Reason Naturally Tends".

And just to warn anyone reading this before the demise of blogs or the internet in general - should it actually happen - the rest of this has nothing to do with the Pope's address.

It is really interesting to me just how much a statement like that might resonate with a good percentage of those who consider themselves to be religious, while meaning different things to different people.  Define God - you can get a wide variety of answers.  Define Reason - many different responses again.  "Ultimate truth" and "naturally tends", more of the same thing.  I can't count the possible permutations of all the combinations and answers.  And, I think that's a very good thing.

That's the beauty of the differences in people, culture, history, experience, and language.  It produces different ideas and makes the world a much more interesting place.  I happen to think that most of the time I wouldn't agree with the statement that the Pope made, but I think it's fun to think about at the same time.  Actually, I think it's one of those statements that says nothing and everything at the same time (see my previous post). 

As interesting as the title of the Pope's address is, I think there's a certain danger in the statement too.  I think we should generally be careful of making absolute statements.  But that's besides the point (that was an after thought that followed the 2.8 seconds of solid contemplation).  If I have a point, I think its interesting to think about statements about ultimate truth where the variety of the definition of the terms leads to many possibilies in defining the concept.

Now what if I were to say that Uberveritas is the ultimate truth to whom all attention naturally tends.

So what's this blog about anyway?

I thought I would answer that question for my audience - all 1.5 of you :-)

This blog is about:

1) Nothing

2) Everything

3) The ultimate truth

What is the ultimate truth?  For the answer to that see # 1 and # 2 above.  So the uberveritas blog is about the ultimate truth which is nothing and everything.  Frankly I think that personal conceptions about ultimate truth say more about the person considering the idea than any ideas themselves.  The ultimate truth is about each and every person.  I least that's what I think today.  So for me, it becomes about whatever I think and feel at the moment.  I don't have an agenda, at least not one that I know of.

And, I really just like the name :-)

So I had a random thought that I would do a Google search on "ultimate truth" which is what Uberveritas means (Latin and German combined).  It was a sudden moment of curiosity, or it was an excuse not to work on other things ;-)

The following is some of what I found on the first page (and Google being Google it will probably change by morning):

-  The first result was for a Geocities page labeled "The Illusion & The Ultimate Truth".  It belong to a young man in India by the first name of Vivek (which immediately reminded me of Vivek Oberoi, currently one of the most famous actors in Bollywood).  The 2003 page that showed up in the search (I'm impressed) pertained to the "beauty of mathematics). 

-  The second result for "ultimate truth" was another Geocities page.  Do they have a corner on the "ultimate truth market"?  Or does a higher breed of human being get drawn to Geocities?   It might be good but there was a lot of text and I was too tired to read.

-  The third result pertained to a 9/11, and I completely skipped it.

-  The fourth result was really interesting:  "Koran-The Ultimate Truth".  When I clicked it, I found that the page stated that "[t]he purpose of this article is to show and logically analyse the various contradictions in the "Holy" Koran.

-  Later was a Blogger article with an Ohio man answering the question of whether or not there is an ultimate truth.

Interesting.  The first page was dominated by results for "ultimate truth" covering mathematics, philosophy, and religion.  I guess that's about what I should have expected. 

Funny that I wasn't listed.  I guess Google didn't realize that's what "uberveritas" was supposed to me.  Well, at least we see that their incredible search algorithms have some limitations.