No13. The knowledge society

The knowledge society is a very nice slogan. Yes, I mean a "slogan" and not a concept or a idea. If we use the definiton of knowledge as prestened by Plato as: "justified true belief" than the modern society has got more to do with skills than knowledge.

First of all, our goal (by our I mean a typical user of a computer based on my private observations)is not to understand the way the modern devices work but how to work with them. Who actually, apart from the ones often called geeks, want's to understand how does uploading photos to facebook work? And how many want to know how to upload them?

What is more, the school system and curriculum is more and more about gaining habits than knowledge. You do not have to know how you solve the math task, what you are actually calculating, just remember that if you see that kind of a equation you press button no2 on your complicated calculator than you put the x number and just press enter.

We say that everything that children learn should be useful and practical. That is why children read less novels, poetry or have fewer history classes. Why should they know who was Cleopatra? What for? Does she even have a facebook site (she has, just checked)? But SKILLS in COMPUTERS "are" essential.


Even if one gains knowledge it is not about science nor literature but more about Paris Hilton in many cases.

So maybe it is like professor Tasaka says, that there is a paradox in naming the current state of society the knowledge society?