Ran into this on a friend’s bookshelf a while back. Great advice. I think that

“Thou shalt not spread false information. Thou shalt not pervert information to enhance profit or status.”

and

“Do not exchange your best understanding of how things work for cheap social consensus.”

are particularly relevant guidelines for people working in information design. Should there be a Hippocratic Oath for data visualization? :-)

The Ten Thrival Commandments

From “The Integral Urban House: Self Reliant Living in the City” (1979) by Sim Van der Ryn , Farallones Institute , Helga and Bill Olkowski

• Thou shalt honor the mystery and subtlety of the universe which brought forth the ecosystem which is thy source; and recognize that its design exceeds the crude capacity of thy mind.
• Thou shalt not compartmentalize the ecosystem or assume that by knowing a part thou understands the whole.
• Thou shalt resist the narrowing of thy appreciation of the whole system by the preoccupations of thy work.
• Honor all experiences. Don’t perpetuate their mistakes. Respect the integrity of information.
• Thou shalt not reduce the information of the biosphere through extermination of species, destruction of unique configurations, or significant individual organisms.
• Thou shalt not take from the ecosystem more than is consistent with its continual well-being. The energy and materials that flow through you are a temporary privilege providing opportunities for reasonable self-expression.
• Thou shalt not divert more energy, material or space to the human species than is consistent with the continued health of the biosphere. Thou shalt not waste energy, materials, or information.
• Thou shalt not spread false information. Thou shalt not pervert information to enhance profit or status.
• Do not exchange your best understanding of how things work for cheap social consensus.
• Look to thyself and thy surroundings. Do not try to be anyone else. Respect for self and nature have a common root.