----------
>From: "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Steve Kurtz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> I think we need also to add the enormous entropy of the
> obsolescence of knowledge. This is sometimes stated
> more "positively" as a shortening "half-life" of
> knowledge, so that by the time an engineer has
> been out of college 10 years, 50% of what (s)he
> learned is no longer current (or whatever the exact numbers
> are in each case). (The especial affront of this is that
> it is not a consequence of "natural processes" outside
> human control, but of human symbolizing activity.)
Thomas:
I had just finished my reply to Arthur's Posting re used clothing and was
rereading some of the Posts when your comments jumped off the screen. The
problem as you have noted is greater even than just material goods, or
waste. It is also within our knowledge base. Just recently, I was reading
a posting about all the early computer tapes, discs, hard drives, etc that
we are losing for two reasons, one the storage devices are deteriotating and
two we are losing the disk drives, operating systems, formats, in which this
knowledge was stored. Why is this happening? Like material goods, it seems
to be a by product of capitalism and continual growth.
We may very well become in a position of an advanced society in which there
is very little knowledge of how we got there and should there ever be a
discontinuity - such as an atomic war, plague or other catasrophe, we may
have destroyed the very resources and knowledge we would need to regain our
then current position.
There is also the problem, as you pointed out of continual learning. It
sounds great, but it ain't easy and as you get a little older, the idea is
not to keep learning as it is to take what is learned and act wisely from
it.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lunde
