Philosophical NotesThe Anti-knowledge SocietyIt's become clear to me that we are far from becoming a knowledge society. Our access to the internet, has exposed us as an anti-knowledge society. Thomas S Kuhn, understood the strange inability to learn that afflicts society, even the scientific community. In his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions he explains why scientists are not objective and rational independent thinkers. People work best when they are problem solvers, they are best when they seek to prove what they already know. In doing so they learn to deny or ignore contrary information that would seriously challenge their existing principles. They choose to work inside a social and professional "box". That makes what they do "efficient" and "effective", but in a narrow way. Essentially the future is closed. This is tribal thinking, and it's contrary to the demands of the global world we need to address. | |||||||||
If society is entrenched in a state of knowledge denial, that doesn't demand that you have to adopt that stance. But you do need to work hard to break the chains that make you a slave to the existing paradigm. It is possible to work inside an expanding and developing "box" and to create a future that is open. That possibility interests me.
It's been interesting on Ryze to see people engaged in vigorous debate without any possibility of agreement. The participants begin with totally different understandings about what the world is like. Where is one likely to find "truth". What forms of "power" are legitimate. Where does one's "purpose in life" come from? Which groups do you "trust" or do you "mis-trust"?
See my notes on Membership below. If you want to think about your own basic membership positions this link will be useful to you.
To the extent that we are unable to change our own ideas even in the face of good evidence that we are wrong, we are slaves to our membership loyalties. Fifty years ago we might have been able to get away with that, but in a modern world we run the danger of just looking outdated and slightly foolish.
So much is changing around us, it's probably healthy to recognise the value of uncertainty. The edge of doubt in our lives is the learning edge of our minds. There can be no learning if I already know the answers. If you can recognise the vague idea. or appreciate that you don't understand something, you can then let that unease guide your search for a better understanding. Then give yourself time. Changing your mind takes a lot of time. Maybe ten years, and in all that time you may be unsure what you believe. But the journey is worth it. While you insist on always knowing the answers, such a journey can't even begin.
In 1972, I began to write a journal, (I called it my notebook) and I began to study economics.
In the front cover of my second journal I wrote, "I will write only what is true here." A really silly idea as I was to discover very quickly. It's almost impossible to know what is or what is not true. Besides most people are very economical with the truth they know, they feed you on untruth, and keep the truth to themselves. That is not an act of betrayal. The untruth people share is usually called "common sense" which is the acceptable form of words people expect. People tell you what they think you want to hear. They repeat and confirm the social script.
Several years later I came across this quote with was written in the Journal of Waldo Salt, American film-maker, in large letters across one page. "To search for the truth, you must first have lost it." I realized that for a long time (15 years) I had been revising and recovering the truth that I had lost. Your self education begins by understanding your "not knowing" and by giving yourself time and space to learn new things.
The idea of "the common" is not widely understood. Economist commonly assume that the common disappeared under the pressure of private property rights in the middle ages. Once the common was fenced it became private land. Ecologists revived the idea of the common, and stressed it's importance. I've been promoting the idea of a social common which exists in all societies, the "useful common".
Some 20 years ago I realized that in my own lifetime the useful common in which New Zealanders live had been severely eroded, partly by neglect and partly by government and commercial action. At the time I imagined somehow that all New Zealanders had equal rights and had access to the same common (Access to roads, beaches, forests, parks, public spaces, libraries, political and legal rights, and general access to public services.). I now realize that as well as a general common available to all citizens, that there are many extensions or restrictions to our access to the common depending on who we are and the memberships we have.
As a general principle a society with an enlarged common available to all is more desirable as a place to live. In a modern society, especially in cities, the main cost of keeping the common open has become a cost taxpayers pay. There is always pressure to reduce of restrict access to the common.
You are who you are because of the memberships you hold. Family, ethnic, educational, professional, clubs and associations, and social class are some of the peer groups we are part of. Our identity is socially constructed. Our old memberships tended to be local, tribal, religious, racial or class based. Understanding your "roots" enabled you to understand who you were and what you might become. You are a member of many groups.
Each of our many membership demands certain knowledge and behaviour and loyalty to certain ideals. Each membership requires that we demonstrate the culture of membership. We adopt forms of words, manners of dress and ways of behaving that make it possible for members to recognise each other. These are signals that members implicitly understand even though nobody ever stated what those signals are.
What I know, the things that interest me, what it's possible for me to learn is moderated by my memberships. Even so, I am responsible in the long run for both my knowing and for my unknowing.
In today's global world, in the knowledge economy, in a cross cultural world, people with strong local or tribal loyalties tend to get forced into a corner and they are forced to fight a rear-guard action, they are seen as fundamentalists, and they are fighting a battle that cannot be won. The values of small exclusive groups will always become subservient to the values of larger more comprehensive and more widely acceptable ideas.
The global world will continue to grow in importance. Values that address the real needs of a global society will become more important. Values that speak to narrow cultural of tribal interests cannot survive, except within small tightly knit groups. For instance I'm a ballroom dancer. Sadly for me, ballroom dancing is everywhere in decline. It's too formal and too dependent on instruction and too dependent of men who are good dancers to survive as a mainstream activity in the modern world.
There's a long journey from the realization that truth is elusive, to having self knowledge you can trust. All the things we know that are not in fact true, prevent us from seeing what is true. I've discovered that the truth is obvious and is sitting plainly in view, but our culture, our way of seeing the world makes us blind to some things. Sometimes, briefly in a flash we can know it, we have this vague idea of new insight. Then we dismiss it. Too dangerous, it goes against everything we've been taught. Self censorship is a powerful weapon. It happens every day. Our common knowledge is full of untruth. But we don't want to examine it too closely, because people will get hurt. If I can be precise about it, if I "blow the whistle" then I'll be hurt. So we go along, we share the common untruth, it's a social game. If we really want to know why communities have problems that persist for years and years and resist all efforts to make progress, look at the stories people believe about themselves. The stories we tell each other confirm who we are but trap us into being like that, we are slaves to our membership rules.
Regards
John