George Boole, the first professor of maths at UCC, introduced principles of mathematics to logic and reasoning. A century later, Boolean logic was applied to information transmission, laying the foundations for the digital age. Boole and Shannon understood that codifying thought creates uncertainty, as context is lost. Uncertainty inspires using information to model reality, draw inferences, and continually question understanding through technology and smart people developing data models. Models can become self-correcting by measuring outcomes against predictions, continually proving hypotheses of true and false over time.

1. ADVERTISING FEATURE
Allowing uncertainty to inspire us
On the 2nd November 2015
UCC will mark the 200th
anniversary of the birth
of George Boole, the first
Professor of Maths at the
newly founded university in
1849. Boole was a self taught
mathematician, logician
and philosopher who
introduced the principles
of mathematics to the study
of reasoning and logic. A
century later, Boolean logic
was applied by an MIT
engineer (Claude Shannon)
studying the transmission
of information, thereby
laying the foundation stone
for the digital age.
Boole and Shannon
both understood that the
codification of thought
and the communication
of information can help
to process and distribute
knowledge, but in so
doing it can create
uncertainty. Representing
a complex world by
rational data structures
necessarily involves
some simplification, so
contextual detail gets lost in
translation. Furthermore,
the act of collecting and
distributing information
can itself distort the
contents of the message.
Finally, all communication
of information is subject
to interpretation by the
recipient, and the same data
can mean different things to
different people.
The uncertainty or
disorder of reality is
something that we must
accept when trying to
distinguish True from False.
We are together with Boole
in trying to understand
the apparent absurdity
of the world around us,
whether that is the cholera
epidemic in Cork in the
1840’s caused by the famine,
or the migrant crisis in
2015 caused by war in the
Middle East. Fortunately,
the brilliant young maths
professor was inspired by
this ambiguity of reason to
leave us a philosophical and
scientific legacy that can
help us in two important
ways today.
Firstly, we can use
information to model
the reality around us
and use the models to
draw inferences about
likely causes, solutions
and potential outcomes.
Instead of focusing on
the technology aspects
of the digital age, we can
encourage a culture of
decision modelling in
organisations. With such
models, we can concentrate
on asking intelligent
questions about our
assumptions regarding the
world we live in.
In order to properly
exploit smart technology, we
first require smart people,
who can conceive of the data
models which will prompt
smart questions. We have
a unique opportunity to
embrace uncertainty, and
to let ourselves be inspired
by complexity, adversity
and apparent absurdity.
We can use our smart
technology to apprehend
and understand the world
we live in, but also we can
use the virtual models thus
created to keep challenging
that understanding. If we
develop the communication
skills to share this know
how, digital thinking can
really become a source of
strategic dynamism.
Secondly, models can
become self-correcting
if we “close the loop” by
measuring actual outcomes
against model predictions.
This is what Boole prompts
us to think about, in
suggesting a codification
of how the mind works.
True and False are not
seen as absolute states, but
hypotheses that should be
proven again and again
over time. Information
should lead us to a
continual questioning of the
uncertainty around us, and
how that complexity can be
understood.
We are not there yet,
with most technology
investments still related
to the enhancement
of imperative control
by monitoring and
surveillance. This is at
odds with the empowering
potential of model based
decisions, and can breed
antipathy among employees
towards the technology and
it’s proponents. This limits
the potential learning that
should occur about the fit
between organisational
processes and purpose.
Uncertainty surrounds us
daily, but as actors in society
and the workplace we strive
for clarity and rationality.
Information systems have
traditionally been designed
to give visibility of task
and activities, quantifying
the consumption of
valuable resources from an
economic viewpoint. The
opportunity we have, 200
years on from the birth of
a humble teacher who had
the tenacity and intellectual
courage to attempt to codify
rational thought, is to
design systems that support
decision modelling, scenario
analysis and inference /
prediction evaluation.
Boole gives us a clue to
how we should tap into our
own innate moral values to
understand the grey areas
between True and False:
There seems in the
present day to be
[even] a superfluous
activity of
invention, busying
itself to accomplish
ends that are not
valuable, and
ministering to a
fantastic vanity.
Here, then, we are
brought again
to that position
around which
all speculations
concerning the
true welfare of
our species seem to
resolve, viz. that it
essentially contains
a moral element.
With thanks to Desmond
MacHale for his book “The
Life and Work of George
Boole: a Prelude to the
Digital Age”, 2nd edition,
Cork University Press, 2014.
IMI Diploma in Cloud Strategy Start Date:
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Dr. Fergal Carton specialises
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worked as a management
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starting with the Boston
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He is the Programme Director
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