Knowledge and the “Knower”
Jul 14th, 2011 by pcollins
Q:Why do we need to concern ourselves with grasping the potential totalizing effects of computer-controlled environments.
Although there are more then likely hundreds of unforseen problems associated with computer controlled-environments I am going to focus on one specific: having knowledge as an external entity to the knower.
There are many positive counterarguments to this design – such as free access to all archived information but there is a big negative: knowledge becoming a commodity. If knowledge is commodi-fied then it can be maintained and controlled – maintained by whom? Controlled by whom? I would love it if our species took an egalitarian approach to this, but history teaches us this hasn’t been our way.
For so much of our past, the acquisition of new knowledge has been controlled by the elite few; usually the clergy or those who from certain countries, or those that could afford it…. My question is, are we setting our selves up for this type of control again?