When I looked up what knowledge meant in the dictionary I found at least nine definitions but the two that really stood out were the following:
-Knowledge is the body of truths or facts accumulated in the course of time
-Knowledge is the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth; clear and certain mental apprehension.
Now I thought that this was interesting as both of these statements said that knowledge is truth or fact. Now as i see it all facts are meant to be true at least so we are taught. Many, so called, facts were disproved over the years and in the end found as fiction. This has taken place over the many years since humans sought an interest in the world around them and how it worked. Such examples include the fact that almost all humans believed that the Earth was flat and that if you came to the end of it you would fall off into outer space. We now know that the earth is not round but sphere-shaped. But the thing is do we really. We came up with a hypothesis that so far hasn't been proven wrong. How do we really know that the world wasn't round maybe 2,000 years ago? How do we truthfully know the same today?
I typed in "knowledge" into the Google search bar and then clicked on images. One of the first ones i saw was this one:
Now this seems very complicated I'm sure, and it is. People have tried to categorize knowledge. This actually works quite well, but again you can find the circle "Facts" which links in with "Data" and "Information". The great Albert Einstein once said: "Information is not knowledge" and I believe him to be correct. Now yes you do collect data and you can get information but not knowledge. A fact is just a theory and theories can never be proven right but can be proven wrong. Now yes even Albert Einstein has recently been found to have had one of his theories proven wrong, the thing is we do not know about it because it was never published even though the man has been found correct. People do not want knowledge to change because that means that they studied something that was completely useless information.
Let me throw some facts at you. Nowadays information is being mass produced. It is estimated that a week's worth of the New York Times newspaper contains more information than a person is likely to come across in a lifetime.It is estimated that 1.5 exabytes (thats 1500000000000000000) of unique new information will be generated world wide this year. That amounts to more unique new information found in the last 5000 years. The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years, which put into studying terms means that a student starting his or her first term at college will find out by his or her third term that half of the information she learned in her first term will be outdated. The amount of technical information in 2010 is estimated to double every 3 days. (Facts taken from Shift Happens movement). If all of this is true, which it isn't as it is estimated, then all of this is happening for no reason as information is not knowledge.
(To view some more facts press on Shift Happens Video)
This all links in with Theory of Knowledge. The fact that we have theories that so far match what might be happening in and around us but this could all change and soon many "facts" will be disproved and we will be forced to find new solutions. Even if we find all the solutions we can possibly find we will never be able to know everything there is to know about everything.
Many of you who read this may disagree with me and thats okay. If you have a point to make please feel free to post a comment.
Thank You
