Comments on: Musings on knowledge, wisdom and the web http://dinamehta.com/blog/2008/09/25/musings-on-knowledge-wisdom-and-the-web/ Creative Chaos - Dina Mehta's Weblog Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:52:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Shefaly http://dinamehta.com/blog/2008/09/25/musings-on-knowledge-wisdom-and-the-web/comment-page-1/#comment-801 Shefaly Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:22:49 +0000 http://dinamehta.com/blog/2008/09/25/musings-on-knowledge-wisdom-and-the-web/#comment-801 Dina, above all, from first principles, one has to ask what the purpose of learning and education is. If the aim is "being able to anticipate and solve problems" - which is in essence universal shorthand for capability, whichever way you define a 'problem' - then a host of 'intelligences' are needed to structure a problem, identify key elements, recall what one knows and what one needs to obtain from elsewhere, negotiate with others to help/ donate/ give the latter bits, and synthesise all these meaningfully to answer the original question. In all this, finding the bits essential to finding the answer is crucial. Recall and search - or Memory and memorisation tools - both have their uses. The former is largely innate and can be aided to an extent, somewhat limited extent; the latter is universally accessible. This old post of mine may also interest you. http://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/on-memory-and-memorisation/ PS: Although I have an elephantine memory, I argue for the process of 'learning to learn' and 'learning to think' because that makes the process more democratic, more accessible, and potentially more fruitful in the long run. Dina, above all, from first principles, one has to ask what the purpose of learning and education is. If the aim is “being able to anticipate and solve problems” – which is in essence universal shorthand for capability, whichever way you define a ‘problem’ – then a host of ‘intelligences’ are needed to structure a problem, identify key elements, recall what one knows and what one needs to obtain from elsewhere, negotiate with others to help/ donate/ give the latter bits, and synthesise all these meaningfully to answer the original question.

In all this, finding the bits essential to finding the answer is crucial. Recall and search – or Memory and memorisation tools – both have their uses. The former is largely innate and can be aided to an extent, somewhat limited extent; the latter is universally accessible.

This old post of mine may also interest you.
http://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/on-memory-and-memorisation/

PS: Although I have an elephantine memory, I argue for the process of ‘learning to learn’ and ‘learning to think’ because that makes the process more democratic, more accessible, and potentially more fruitful in the long run.

]]> By: Dina http://dinamehta.com/blog/2008/09/25/musings-on-knowledge-wisdom-and-the-web/comment-page-1/#comment-800 Dina Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:54:42 +0000 http://dinamehta.com/blog/2008/09/25/musings-on-knowledge-wisdom-and-the-web/#comment-800 Hey thanks for the thoughtful response. I'm not knocking the value of access to info one bit - I thrive on it! It just bothered me that I could not remember anymore than that I had the access to the info :). In most cases that's pretty cool. But for kids in school who's reality is that they have to consign stuff to memory often for the sake of stupid exams, I am concerned. PS - I did tweet I was in Bangalore! A tweet-up would have been cool. Next time? Hey thanks for the thoughtful response. I’m not knocking the value of access to info one bit – I thrive on it! It just bothered me that I could not remember anymore than that I had the access to the info :) . In most cases that’s pretty cool. But for kids in school who’s reality is that they have to consign stuff to memory often for the sake of stupid exams, I am concerned.

PS – I did tweet I was in Bangalore! A tweet-up would have been cool. Next time?

]]> By: manuscrypts http://dinamehta.com/blog/2008/09/25/musings-on-knowledge-wisdom-and-the-web/comment-page-1/#comment-799 manuscrypts Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:30:13 +0000 http://dinamehta.com/blog/2008/09/25/musings-on-knowledge-wisdom-and-the-web/#comment-799 damn, missed the tweet....your post reminds me of the old anecdote about Indian engineers in America- the one which glorified the indian's ability to calculate without a machine's help... buuut, on your query, i have a few perspectives - to me, the twitter mashup stuff is not knowledge, its information.. what you can do with it might qualify for knowledge.. in that sense, i prefer access, because its becoming ubiquitous... also, look at it this way, your twitter 'information' is useful when online, but if you have access you don't really need to memorise it, do ya? meanwhile, what is your memory capacity? how much can you store and recall at will? so we prioritise, or try to, and really can't remember everything... lastly, i'd rather have the net spread the process to wisdom (learning to learn) than wisdom itself... for wisdom, i think, should come from subjective experiences.. but thats just a perspective... :) phew, did i mention great post.. made me think :D PS. you were in Bangalore? a tweetup would've been abso cool :) damn, missed the tweet….your post reminds me of the old anecdote about Indian engineers in America- the one which glorified the indian’s ability to calculate without a machine’s help… buuut, on your query, i have a few perspectives – to me, the twitter mashup stuff is not knowledge, its information.. what you can do with it might qualify for knowledge.. in that sense, i prefer access, because its becoming ubiquitous… also, look at it this way, your twitter ‘information’ is useful when online, but if you have access you don’t really need to memorise it, do ya? meanwhile, what is your memory capacity? how much can you store and recall at will? so we prioritise, or try to, and really can’t remember everything… lastly, i’d rather have the net spread the process to wisdom (learning to learn) than wisdom itself… for wisdom, i think, should come from subjective experiences.. but thats just a perspective… :)
phew, did i mention great post.. made me think :D

PS. you were in Bangalore? a tweetup would’ve been abso cool :)

]]>