Problems with Modern Knowledge: Three Charts
The disconnect between how we gain knowledge, and how we do (or don't) use it.
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We live in the so-called information age that began with the promise of every needful fact or figure at our fingertips anytime, anywhere. It would usher in a golden age where intelligence and intellect reigned supreme. I exaggerate those early promises, but only a little. Obviously, it didn’t pan out that way. Instead of liberation, we got control, coercion, and commerce, and only a small sliver of what was promised. But I digress.
This post is not about the problem of disinformation, propaganda, censorship, or any of the other facets of a post-truth dystopia. Instead, I want to posit a few problems with the flood of information itself; what and how we acquire it, and what we end up doing or not doing with all this knowledge, and the decisions implicit in that process.
How We Do Research
American universities produce a staggering amount of research, but as prolific as they are, there are still some significant restraints on what topics receive scrutiny, what kind of research gets done, and for whom. If you are part of the academic community, for the most part the research you conduct will depend on two factors. The first is whether there is funding available. Research doesn’t happen without money. Incidentally this is problematic in academia, not because there isn’t money to be had for many research efforts, but because many scientific projects can take longer than most research grants are willing to run. But that’s another discussion.
The second factor is whether what you want to study falls within your established specialty. This seems like a reasonable requirement, except that sometimes someone coming from an outside perspective can see things that others miss. By the same token, the specialist settles into assumptions that may or may not be true, but should be challenged occasionally.
The chart below shows what happens in this context. In a vast area of potential research, only funded specialists carry out their work in a relatively small sector of potential research, leaving what I like to call “The Wilderness” mostly untouched. Sometimes by some miracle a paper does get published in The Wilderness, but for lack of a community of scholars to pick up and carry on the discussion, it sinks without a trace. Otherwise, I contend that The Wilderness represents a vast realm of investigation just waiting to be explored, mapped, plumbed, and sifted for fresh insight.
