N-main
(Margaret Mead, Continuities in Cultural Evolution, 1964)
Contents
I am proposing a practical way to correct an error.
Which remained buried in our culture's foundations; and forgotten in its distant history. Problems—including discontinuities in cultural evolution and non-sustainability of global trends—need to be seen as its consequences. And also the fact that underlies those problems (yes, I am calling it a fact, I know this might be shocking but please bear with me)—that when it comes to the core themes of our lives and times, the state of affaires is similar as what we had regarding the natural phenomena in pre-scientific times: What we've got to work with is largely just belief, no knowledge. I am about explain why the knowledge of the matters that matter is no longer possible; and share with you a strategy to reverse this unbearable condition, whose execution is already in motion; and invite you to take part in bringing it to fruition.
I am proposing to institute a transdiscipline.
Which is a new kind of institution; whose function is to turn information into knowledge. And to make this proposal concrete and clear, and ready to be implemented, I am offering knowledge federation as a complete prototype of the transdiscipline—ready to be examined and put to use.
The knowledge federation proposal does include a vision of a radically better future, called holotopia; as its natural consequence and proof of concept application.
This website is meant to complement my book called Liberation, which is about to appear in print; where I'll share the details and the evidence, rendered as cute little stories called vignettes. Here the theme will be knowledge federation's academic side; I will not be spelling out its details, but by outlining its structure—and letting you reconstruct the details; by browsing through the book; and by participating in the public dialog the Libetion book will ignite.
In the book I sometimes call myself "a scientific fundamentalist", with tongue in cheek. The fact of this matter is that I've been trained as a theoretical scientist, or practically as a mathematician. I am telling you this because (in contrast with my informal and sketchy manner of speaking) it is only when you see that there is nothing hypothetical in what I'm saying, that there are no guesses and no maybes, that you'll have understood me correctly. All follows by mathematical reasoning from this simple axiom:
Knowledge must be federated.
Which is not even an axiom in the usual sense but a convention of language; and part of my definition of knowledge and knowledge federation; which postulates that something can be considered as known, and called knowledge, only if it's supported by evidence; and reflected in everyday awareness and action.
Knowledge federation is the fruit of work of many excellent people.
The reason why I speak to you like this, in first person, is that I can then allow myself to be controversial; and be personally accountable for what I say. And because I want this to be an outcry.
Historical appeals to institute transdisciplinarity remained ignored!
And when we took over the torch—or as the case might be this large boulder and began rolling it uphill—the same dynamic repeated itself. The challenge we are now facing is to break the spell of the business as usual; and to be resolute in this—because there's no more time to waste.
On this website I'll let knowledge federation speak for itself; and thereby also illustrate some of its techniques.
- Federation through Ideograms will render the gist of this proposal as four metaphorical images
- Federation through Keywords will help you comprehend it precisely, by explaining a handful of words in terms of which it's been defined
- Federation through Prototypes will demonstrate how knowledge federation will make a difference, by sharing some examples
- Federation through Action will invite you to take part in the two-step process that will complete this initiative.
Dino Karabeg
