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Redefinition of Knowledge
In the
twenty-first century, the age of experimenting and accumulating knowledge has
almost come to an end, and the most outstanding characteristic of this century
will be the production of science and its eventual conversion into a product
or technique. An interpretation of this statement is that in the new epoch
there will be little need or possibility for maintaining and accumulating
science due to the volume of social advances and the mass of scientific
production owing to the assistance stemming from information dissemination
technology. Secondly, through the grace of the existing developments and
wide-ranging technological advances, the need for maintaining or accumulating
knowledge will be unnecessary. In other words, there will be no need to
safeguard knowledge since it will have to be quickly turned into a technique
to be followed by the quest for a new technological discovery.
This interpretation of knowledge, i.e. the
un-necessity of accumulating knowledge in one spot and place and its
dissemination across the society or the popularization of its use, is an
orientation towards a society receptive to learning and knowledge. The society
receptive to learning is the ideal society of the twenty-first century in the
optimum use of knowledge in which the process of production, absorption,
circulation and application of knowledge will take place at the highest level
possible. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that a knowledge receptive
society is not one that is merely be able to produce knowledge, but rather it
is one that has laid the foundation or suitable structures for useful
application of knowledge, and through guided programming will use knowledge
effectively for the purpose of development.
The developed countries have understood this
progressed and up-to-date concept of knowledge better than other members of
the world community. They have paid more attention to the production,
management and circulation of knowledge and other similar considerations. In
Japan, for instance, they have set up a school for this purpose
under the supervision of the institute of science and technology. This school
deals with such concepts as social knowledge and science, the process of
decision-making, creativity-supportive systems, socio-technical systems, the
methodology of creating knowledge and structure of knowledge and so on.
What these centers - like the one in
Japan - are after is the training of frontrunners or avant-gardes
in delivering new science for mass consumption. In other words, the goals
underlying the establishment of such centers is the training of a creative and
innovative workforce that is well versed at productive application of
knowledge for the advancement of society.
The key to understanding the meaning of a
knowledge-receptive society is by applying information dissemination tools to
popularize the use of knowledge. Or the role modern mass communications tools
such as satellite, internet and electronic communications lines play in the
modern age in the direction of knowledge dissemination. This is in effect a
kind of reference to the new concept of knowledge. The examination of
countries in South East Asia for example, which have managed to attain a
remarkable level of development in recent decades would indicate that they
have made massive investments in science-intensive fields, such as
communications and information dissemination, and laid the necessary
foundations for accessing knowledge and its popularization.
That is why it can be claimed that a
knowledge-based intrinsic development – a knowledge drawing from science – and
its popularization across society is the key to the understanding world
development and a prerequisite for integration and contribution to the
international community. To achieve this goal it is necessary to bring about
the needed conditions for injecting its results in industries, services as
well as creating the necessary preparedness in the public to use its results. |
