Let's get straight into it!
Knowledge is fascinating and humans are getting more knowledgeable every passing second! Soon humans collectively will double knowledge overnight! what an incredible reality! Surely one day it could double every minute? What does a world look like if that were the case??? Here are some facts:
Buckminster Fuller is the designer of the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”. Up till the 1900's human knowledge doubled every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. In Todays world things aren't as simple, different types of knowledge grow at different rates. Nanotechnology knowledge is doubling every couple of years and medicine knowledge every 20 months. On average human knowledge is doubling every 12 months. IBM said that Knowledge will eventually double every 12 hours in the future! There reasoning was, innovation and open sourced information on the internet will exponentially speed up the process of knowledge to new heights. Freedom of importation is a breeding ground for innovation. TED futurism also state that even further into the future it could be every minute. Mind-blowing!
Interesting isn't it? but what does it mean? In my head it raises some questions?
I think as knowledge grows exponentially so will technology.
The first question is.... Will it happen?
I personally think it will happen. With more stability and certainty in peoples relationships are with one another via transferring information across the internet and with more transparent borders, I think knowledge will just keep booming. With transparency comes innovation. When people are uncertain about how people might interpret information things become stagnant. When information is tampered with or changed for individual or political gains people struggle to grow. Just look at north Korea, when countries/people cut them selves off from collective learning, innovation stops and advances diminish. The more we share the faster knowledge will grow. Just look how the internet changed the world.
Secondly are the impacts:
There are a million positive impacts knowledge will have on society. Maybe people won't have to work anymore and unsolved economic problems will be fixed (maybe online currencies). I think more of the question is what are the issues with knowledge growing every 12hours. If knowledge doubles too fast older generations will loose purpose. Futureism stated that all lawyers could be replaced but robot lawyers by 2025. Imagine junior lawyers at university for five years being let down because of advances in technology mean you can't find a job. This is just one example but other areas could be even more profound. With age your the ability to learn new things does dissipate every so slightly. The old phrase 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' comes into mind. Surely older generations would be left in the dust and eventually even people a decade older than the previous generations wouldn't be able to keep up with an ever faster changing environment. Literally the majority of humans might become too slow, with ever-growing dependance on computers most humans might end up being irrelevant and people becoming lost. It could feed society inequality and divide the world massively. This is straying away from knowledge and into technical advances but surely knowledge and technology double hand in hand? Then again advances in computer science might mean everyone can learn everything? Its a hard call but knowledge doubling every day seems a little too fast right now, it would mean such fundamental society change i just don't know if the world could cope. Something would need to be done so everyone can benefit.
The third question is.... (If it does take this path) Where will this take us:
Human existence has been around for thousands of years. Technology has speeded this process to the point where in the last one hundred years we have seen nearly all of our knowledge cultivated. Imagine, only one hundred years. The internet has only been around for twenty years. I don't think anyone on earth can predict what effect this technology will have on people in say one thousands years. If these predictions are correct surely the human race will be so ridiculously knowledgeable that even the answers to the deepest questions of the cosmos will be solved. Questions like 'what is our purpose in the universe' and 'Who put us here on earth'. The idea of expidential growth into the future is exciting but also worrying. Is having all the answers going to be good for our society or will it be dangerous? Taking into consideration things like AI and biochemistry the future is going to be one crazy place!
Fourthly is.... How will people absorb information:
In todays complex world its becoming more difficult to be an expert in anything. People used to be an expert in several different fields but today even one field can be a big challenge. As things become more complicated and difficult to grasp so does the ability to digest the information. With knowledge doubling so rapidly i think all humans will need some aid in absorbing information. Maybe something to do with AI or downloading data straight to the brain. I know this sounds crazy but just like your computer needs an update to stay with the times, even humans will start needing updates because the abundance of information will just be too difficult to take in. The world will be man and machine working together consistently
It's a massive topic and i know these are only a few small questions but please show you appreciation and comment your opinions and ideas about knowledge! I love too hear what other people think! This is where we come up with the answers. I don't want to wait 12hours! I want them now! haha please follow for more interesting posts on a variety of different topics! Steemit you are legends. Peace out from greenerz!
hey! cool topic. Just interested as what you define "knowledge" to be? If you say knowledge can double, what is the unit of knowledge? I agree with you though that in many scientific fields, such as computer science, we are deepening our knowledge quite fast, but other fields, like physics, have been stagnant for several years now. In physics we still deal with Newtonian mechanics, which are nearly 300 years old!
its a good question, I evaluate it as how much information we collectively have on everything as a whole. It's hard to explain but imagine going back 1000s years and you had google on your phone but no-one else did. You would come across as a very knowledgeable person right? of course it depends on how much you personally can take in but overall you would be a lot more advanced. If that makes any sense?? also today your right, it depends on the field. but overall collectively knowledge is exponentially growing because of some the factors i mentioned! hope that answered your question and thanks for commenting man :)
Yes thanks :)! I agree that collectively knowledge really is growing.
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