The Sea of Knowledge

I mentioned previously that some people might find it overwhelming to have so much knowledge at their disposal. A few generations ago, titles of (history) textbooks rarely hinted at the least possibility of doubt. The definite article "the" in "The Building of our nation" suggests that it is possible to present an accurate and complete history of an entire nation in less than 500 pages. It also suggests that you should not look further to get other perspectives. Many people feel comfortable with this kind of knowledge.

In the past, your teachers told the truth, you had to learn this truth by heart and reproduce it elsewhere (on an exam paper). This represented your possession of knowledge. However, throughout post-modern times (1980's-1990's), we started to question these absolute truths. We understood that single stories could be dangerous and approached "truth" with scepticism and even relativism. Post-modern ideas proposed that we should include a wider range of perspectives, including those of the non-elite and less powerful groups. This idea was very attractive at the time because it led to tolerance and and a greater inclusion of a wealth of ideas. Moving on a few years, came the age of information technology.

In addition to our changed post-modern mindset, we also had the Internet at our disposal. With the advent of the Internet came the access to information on a scale that was unheard of before. Initially, this meant that we could find information and even knowledge in a matter of seconds. Increasingly, this also means that anyone could share knowledge and reach audiences you would never have reached previously.

Nowadays, anyone can become a Youtuber, anyone can contribute to Wikipedia, and anyone can create a website. In sum, knowledge has become more democratic in two ways: virtually anyone can access it and virtually anyone can create it. On the one hand, this is great. Knowledge has become much less a thing of the elite or the entitled. It is much easier to find knowledge, it feels like we know more. However, with all this information at our disposal, how do we distinguish between "good" and "bad" knowledge, "reliable" and "unreliable" sources?

This is not easy. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, many people have given up on this quest. Instead, they do not only think that it is impossible to say something with certainty (they refute the notion of facts); they also feel that facts have become somewhat irrelevant. In politics, this phenomenon is called the post-truth: "Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief." (Oxford Dictionary). Although it is very important to be wary of people who claim to have found "the truth" (this can lead to dogma), we should equally be wary of people who claim that the truth does not matter. When we pretend that facts don't exist, or present obvious knowledge as "fake" news, we create room for our own agenda, propaganda and emotionally appealing but morally incorrect politics. Some politicians take advantage of this situation. ‘In this era of post-truth politics, it's easy to cherry-pick data and come to whatever conclusion you desire’ Oxford Dictionary).

So, what does this mean for you? Within TOK lessons, you will learn to critically assess your sources, ask questions about the reliability of knowledge claims and filter the data at your disposal. Technology has allowed us to access a wealth of knowledge, but this can be difficult. We hope you will not assume that facts don't exist anymore. They do. But you should question what counts as a fact, under what circumstances you could accept expert opinion and how technology has impacted how we filter data and information. You should learn to filter your news and question what you can believe. You should evaluate the methods you use to do so. In short, you should learn to swim rather than drown in the sea of "knowledge" surrounding us.

By studying the optional theme of knowledge and technology you are encouraged to become that bit less gullible when you come across online knowledge. You will learn not to take everything you hear face value. We should stop deluding ourselves by choosing our most convenient truth. In order to distinguish between fact and fiction in our search for knowledge, it is invaluable to analyse ourselves as a knower. It is important to evaluate how we deal with information that we come across online and how we share knowledge. We should examine the validity of knowledge claims and their justifications, rather than just debunking them without being able to justify our points of view

The first image of the black hole: https://youtu.be/0RxitCeuokI

Technology and cognition

Reflection: To what extent are technologies such as the microscope and telescope merely extensions to the human senses or do they introduce radically new ways of seeing the world?As seen before, technology has allowed for the dissemination of knowledge at a much faster rate than was previously imaginable. However, technology has also affected the way in which we gather knowledge. Technology such as telescopes and microscopes have made it possible to enhance human sense perception.

These tools allow us to perceive what is beyond the capacities of our human frame. Thanks to technology we now have sensory proof for scientific theories that could not have been proven without it. For example, technology allowed us to detect the sound of gravitational waves. This is a big deal, because technology allowed scientists to confirm the second part of Einstein's publication of the general theory of relativity, i.e. gravitational waves, about 100 years after his initial predictions. And, more recently, a network of eight telescopes across the world, allowed us to release the very first image of a black hole, located 500 million trillion km away.

Technology has pushed the boundaries of human sense perception. It can even be argued that it has created an entirely different lens through which we can see the world. To some extent, technology has radically transformed (human) cognition. The advent of A.I and recent developments in machine learning may even make us question whether knowledge could reside outside human cognition.

Image 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A--Z4j10l95mSumxV3x3piHOV9KIQD0p/view?usp=sharing

Image 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PYSbumix6MFaxA5j0lgb-XvsGgnIuKxu/view?usp=sharing

Gravitational Wave Chirp https://youtu.be/TWqhUANNFXw

Programming Intelligence https://youtu.be/lmoXByLkK14