Orphaned Knowledge

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” 

Albert Einstein

I sometimes think we have a strange relationship with knowledge. We fetishise it, celebrate it, certify it and reward it, but for the most part, don't use it very well.

We can look at a flower, deconstruct it to its component structures, analyse the surface tensions of the water drops on it and consider the job done. Knowledge becomes an end in itself.

But surely, knowledge has an intermediate quality? If we accept that knowledge is infinite and that we will only access a small and incomplete part of it, then it is the curiosity that directs us to it that is at the core of our purpose. Thus, the whole purpose of knowledge is to form a continuous and self-reinforcing loop with our curiosity.

Despite that, our education and training approaches for the most part, discourage curiosity. Instead, we take knowledge and wring every last drop of commercial value from it. Curiosity plays havoc with hierarchies and leadership structure…