“Technology provides ever-expanding access to shared knowledge. Therefore, the need to assimilate such knowledge personally is relentlessly diminishing.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? - Question 2 of 2018 NOV exams
Technology is the extension of human function. In this context, that function is accessing shared knowledge, which technology extends across time, space and information capacity. The growth of technology, which provides a platform for ever-expanding shared knowledge, largely stems from our interest in adopting and adapting shared knowledge for our own use. Incorporating knowledge to make it part of yourself and your personal knowledge occurs through the process of assimilation. In turn, assimilation means that shared knowledge is adopted or adapted in such a way that it becomes part of your personal knowledge and consequently indistinguishable from external shared knowledge sources.
Merging new experiential knowledge with pre-existing knowledge allows shared information to be interpreted through the methodology of relevant areas of knowledge (AOKs) to generate personal knowledge. Assimilated knowledge is intimately intertwined with personal knowledge, which can affect your approach to generating new knowledge, altering your world view. Through the interaction between this personal knowledge and technologically-available shared knowledge, we are able to modify personal experience or information to fit in with personal belief. Each individual’s creativity and thinking connects the knowledge gleaned in different ways.
The methodology of an AOK plays a pivotal role in how knowledge is facilitated by technology and access to shared knowledge. In the Natural Sciences, ever-expanding access diminishes the need for personal assimilation since information can be stored in external sources rather than in memory. However, assimilated knowledge remains useful in developing hypotheses and criticizing existing theories. In the Arts, personal assimilation is imperative regardless since this AOK focuses on the interaction between art and audience, which requires personal interaction and conclusions to be drawn from personal knowledge.
The scientific methodology focuses on falsification and requires all scientific findings to be replicable. This makes the pursuit of knowledge in the Natural Sciences often a shared, rather than personal endeavor. Access to shared knowledge in the Natural Sciences is expedited by technology, which functions to facilitate collection and storage of data in an external shared knowledge store. While the provision of ever-expanding access to shared knowledge helps scientists validate claims more efficiently, it compels us to question whether the need for personal assimilation in the Natural Sciences remains if knowledge is so accessible. As such, is shared knowledge available to such an extent that we no longer bother to assimilate all information, instead solely relying on technology as an alternate store for knowledge? Does this result in the relentless diminishment of personally assimilated knowledge that the prescribed title suggests?
Betsy Sparrow found that people who immediately sought the internet to answer difficult questions were less likely to commit the information to memory (Greenemeir, 2011), implying that the ever-expanding access to shared knowledge renders assimilation more inconvenient than simply re-searching for information when required. Memory is a mechanism for processing new situations, allowing for further assimilation of shared knowledge that can then alter our personal knowledge and thus personal perceptions. Here, technology provides a means for the responsibility of memory to be shifted from the knower to an external static medium. In this sense, the need for personal assimilation is diminishing. Information need not be assimilated into personal knowledge stored by memory as it is readily-accessible in shared knowledge sources.
Conversely, psychologist John Suler believes that ‘information important to us’ will still be remembered (Greenemeir, 2011), suggesting that personal knowledge is not ‘relentlessly diminishing’. ‘Relentless’ implies a persistent, continuous process, suggesting that ever-expanding access to shared knowledge confines the necessity for personal assimilation completely. The Natural Sciences require the analysis and criticism of data, a reflective, intuitive process requiring the merger of personal with shared knowledge to comprehensively evaluate the latter.
Recently, thirty scientists collaborated to use 60 years-worth of data to substantiate the claim of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe (H-W) thesis (Steele et al., 2018) and negate Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Personal, assimilated knowledge of the H-W thesis and Darwin’s theory guided the direction in which reflection took place to allow the criticism of the Theory of Evolution. It is Steele’s personal knowledge that allowed his reflection, criticism and consequent formation of a new hypothesis he believed would remedy Darwin’s faults, regardless of the actual validity of Steele’s claims.
Without Steele’s ability to access shared knowledge, assimilating it through reflection to make it part of his personal knowledge, it would have been harder for him to discern other issues for criticism. Evidently, assimilation has the capacity to engage us in critical thinking. Thus, it is still necessary in making new inferences and breakthroughs in the Natural Sciences, especially imperative in analyzing, criticizing and falsifying a theory. While its diminishment is evident, it is certainly not ‘relentless’, as reflective capacity remains necessary to form new hypotheses.
Unlike the Natural Sciences, where knowledge is generated mostly objectively, the Arts employ emotion and intuition oriented to the human subjective mind to create art which evokes an emotional response from the viewer. Personal knowledge impacts the assimilation of shared knowledge from an artwork, making understanding art unique to each individual and their experiences. Viewers must be able to interpret an artwork’s non-literal components for it to hold artistic value, making personal assimilation fundamental to art generating meaning.
Shared knowledge in the Arts is encouraged by technology in its collation and access to banks of knowledge. Artists can synthesize new knowledge from these shared knowledge stores by using them for inspiration. Personal assimilation remains imperative as artists must reflect on a concept in order to create art in a way that evokes emotion. The major role of reflective capacity and consequent assimilation thus questions whether the need to assimilate in the Arts is in fact relentlessly increasing regardless of ever-expanding access to shared knowledge.
Constructing meaning in the Arts requires emotion and intuition to help us connect to emotional implications of an artwork. Actor Kwame Kwei-Armah believes that it is only when one looks intrinsically ‘to see what makes [them] tick, will [they] be able to repair and make change’ (Hattenstone, 2017), signifying that personal interaction with art is a crucial precursor to engendering meaning. Intuition is derived from experience and experiential learning. Since knowledge in an artwork depends upon the interaction between audience and artwork, art can alter our intuitional capabilities. Regardless of the expanse of information available through technology, shared knowledge from an artwork must be assimilated personally for art to truly impact an individual and complicate their thought processes, enhancing their capacity for understanding. Thus, personal assimilation remains vital for artistic understanding.
Technology provides local art collections the ability to proliferate global audiences (Thompson et al., 2013), highlighting that technologically provided access to shared knowledge is not unidirectional. Just as an audience has ever-expanding access to the shared knowledge of an artwork, an artwork similarly gains an ever-expanding audience. Nevertheless, technology that increases information capacity can dilute individual desire to see artworks in person, in this case ‘relentlessly diminishing’ the need to see art in real-life to facilitate personal assimilation. I had only seen Michelangelo’s ‘David’ in art-books and online prior to my visit to Florence. Viewing it in Galleria dell’Accademia allowed me to experience its rich aesthetic detail, only evident when observed in person; it is this detail that made the emotional impact of ‘David’ significantly more profound. Further, the sensory perception that came from personally experiencing ‘David’ was essential in generating knowledge of the artwork since interpretation depends on accurately recognizing an artwork’s features. Experiencing art vicariously through technology limited my interaction with the artwork, thus making it arguable that accessing art from shared knowledge sources instead of assimilating the conveyance of the artwork in real-life is a sub-standard method of generating knowledge in the Arts. In this sense, the ever-expanding access to shared knowledge may diminish the extent to which one feels the need to assimilate knowledge for understanding, but only at the extent of the quality of knowledge generated and the emotions evoked.
Alternatively, ever-expanding access to shared knowledge can facilitate an artist’s inspiration for creating art by helping the artist improve the efficiency of their work. The more knowledge the artist can access, the more they can synthesize new ideas from, a process which necessitates reflection, obliging the assimilation of shared knowledge into personal knowledge. This shared knowledge can provide access to learning techniques necessary for the creation of an artwork. For example, technology created a platform for Bob Ross share his personal knowledge of techniques in oil painting with a global audience through his show, ‘The Joy of Painting’ (Gotthardt, 2018). This technique, like the type of brushstroke used, requires Ross’ viewers to consistently practice in order for shared knowledge to be assimilated into personal knowledge and become part of their praxis. The integral process of shared knowledge becoming personal praxis through assimilation from technical to practical skill means that the need for assimilation is not diminishing regardless of ever-expanding access to shared knowledge.
In conclusion, it is evident that knowledge in both the Natural Sciences and the Arts can be facilitated through ever expanding access to shared knowledge. The essentiality of reflective capacity in both AOKs means the need for personally assimilated knowledge is not relentlessly diminishing. Personal assimilation is required to facilitate the creation of new hypotheses and knowledge in the Natural Sciences and enables the synthesis of concepts and ideas from shared knowledge in the Arts. In spite of technology providing ever-expanding access to shared knowledge, assimilation of knowledge will remain necessary, its diminishment is not relentless and will not become obsolete.
Bibliography
Gotthardt, A. (2018). How Bob Ross Became Everyone’s Favourite Art Teacher. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-bob-ross-everyones-favorite-art-teacher
[Accessed: 29 March 2018]
Greenemeir, L. (2011). The Scientific American. Piece of Mind: Is the Internet Replacing Our Ability to Remember? Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/internet-transactive-memory/
[Accessed: 04 May 2018]
Hattenstone, S. (2017). The Guardian. Kwame Kewi-Armah: ‘As a black male you’re told you can’t do this. I’ve tried to go: yes we can.’ Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage /2017/oct/01/kwame-kwei-armah-young-vic-theatre-interview
[Accessed: 04 May 2018]
Steele et al., (2018). Cause of Cambrian Explosion-Terrestrial or cosmic?. Progress in biophysics and molecular biology.
Thompson et al., (2013). Arts Organizations and Digital Technologies. Overall Impact of Technology on the Arts. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/01/04/section-6-overall-impact-of-technology-on-the-arts/
[Accessed: 29 March 2018]
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