Should Knowledge Be Shared? Wisdom?

[Micah]

or should it be earned? For example, a man is particularly happy knowing that the numbers 1 through 10 exist. Now, he can count. He can buy and sell anything up to ten, perhaps even elaborate on the paradigm and come up with the idea of 11, 12, 13. Does he have a responsibility to share that knowledge?

A mysterious figure, say ḏiḥautī, teaches this man that he can do much more than count things. He can multiply and divide. He can quantify values and begin to suspect at the underlying system of the universe. He can separate tokens from thoughts and record words. So much for wisdom. Does he have a responsibility to share it?

Edited December 22, 2010 by Micah

[Era Might]

You've asked an interesting question. I think "sharing" is a very dangerous thing, because throughout history it leads time and time again to imposing and dominating. I don't think anyone is ready to share anything until he first knows how to listen. Just because you have good intentions doesn't mean your "sharing" won't have destructive consequences.

[Luigi]

Yes, knowledge should definitely be shared. However (also know as THE BIG BUT) ...

How one shares information is very important. Era Might maintains that "sharing information" often leads to imposing and dominating, and I wouldn't contest that. On the other hand, I wouldn't have wanted to develop numeracy, literacy, theology, or anything else completely on my own. The communal nature of all human life (excluding hermits, who are actually very few and far between) leads to the establishment of cultures. And what cultures do is share information.

I've had teachers who approached education from a constructive perspective - I (the teacher) will design educational experiences that will allow you (the student) to discover the facts, make connections, find ramifications, develop theories, and so forth. To a certain extent, that's fine - I've known a lot of children who work that way on their own when they're exploring their environments or playing with toys. But when I'm paying for a class, I want the teacher to cut to the chase and just tell me (verbally, through the text, whatever) what s/he already knows. It's not a big mystery at this point, I got no time to do all this discovery stuff, I'm pretty good at reading, analyzing charts, decoding graphs, whatever else. So just share your information with me.

Now wisdom might be another question altogether. I'm not sure it's even possible to share wisdom. I mean, you can tell it to me what you've come to understand, but if I haven't had pretty similar experiences of my own, I'm not sure I can even figure out what you're getting at.

[CatherineM]

Certain things, math, reading, etc., we should share. Other things depend on the learner. I wouldn't teach a 6 year old about sex changes, or a foreign despot how to make an atomic bomb.

[Luigi]

[quote name='CatherineM' timestamp='1292996589' post='2193915']
Certain things, math, reading, etc., we should share. Other things depend on the learner. I wouldn't teach ... or a foreign despot how to make an atomic bomb.
[/quote]

But I bet you could!

[MithLuin]

I regularly teach high school students how to purify weapons-grade uranium for use in constructing atomic bombs.

Mostly because in this case, knowledge does [i]not[/i] translate to ability . Have you ever tried to buy uranium (yellowcake)? Let me know how that works out for you... And the necessary equipment will occupy several acres and cost tons of money. But I tell them I'm teaching them how to make bombs, because they pay attention that day. (More so than they would if I simply said we were learning Graham's Law.) Teachers can be devious that way .

Knowledge is [i]much[/i] easier to share than wisdom. Wisdom requires experience on the part of the 'student'. Herman Hesse's short novel [i]Siddartha[/i] was basically all about how wisdom cannot be taught by a master to a disciple - that the student had to go out on his own and learn for himself. Now, Hesse is a German existentialist, so I hardly agree with everything he thought or said, but think of it this way. Can you 'teach' someone about love? Or can you just love them? Wisdom is more like love than it is like knowledge.

My natural inclination would be to share knowledge, unless I had some reason to suspect that by doing so, I would harm someone. I'm much more about 'open source' than 'trade secrets' in my personal philosophy.....but I share knowledge about [i]things[/i] more than about [i]people[/i]. I will jabber on and on about any topic you choose...but ask me how I'm doing and I'll say 'fine' and clam up.

Edited December 22, 2010 by MithLuin

[Era Might]

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1292996005' post='2193912']
Era Might maintains that "sharing information" often leads to imposing and dominating, and I wouldn't contest that. On the other hand, I wouldn't have wanted to develop numeracy, literacy, theology, or anything else completely on my own.
[/quote]
This is exactly the kind of thing that scares me. Once you start determining what other people "need," you've started down the road of becoming a dictator. Even seemingly innocuous things like literacy become means of imposing and dominating other peoples. Once society starts dictating that reading is an obligation, then it starts building institutions (schools) to enforce that "obligation." Then society starts "sharing" its obligations with others. So in the name of "sharing," society sends its secular missionaries to other countries to "share" schools and reading. But this act of "sharing" is really an act of aggression, because it inevitably serves the power interests of the "sharing" nation. In the name of "sharing," Americans will go to the ends of the earth to bring American "gifts" like schooling. These secular missionaries have good intentions, but at the end of the day they serve destructive ends without even realizing it, because they destroy other people's cultures to remake those societies in the image of American society.

This happens with religious missionaries as well. They often go to the ends of the earth in the name of the Gospel, but along with them they bring their cultural and social ideologies (often without realizing it). "Sharing" in the name of the Gospel is the worst kind of sharing, in my opinion. Nothing disturbs me more than when the Gospel becomes a means of "sharing" social ideologies. I distrust religious missionaries even more than I distrust secular missionaries, because religious missionaries attach the name of God to their "sharing." I am not saying I am against bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. But being a Christian missionary is the most dangerous kind of sharing, because, to use the old saying, "the corruption of the best is the worst." When the Gospel is corrupted and becomes a means of ideological imposition, then that truly is the worst, because the freedom of the Gospel is chained with the shackles of ideology.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Era Might

[kafka]

sort of a broad question Micah, maybe if you qualify it?

My initial thought was that it natural for a man to share or give his wisdom and knowledge, it proceeds from his God-given role. As far as moral responsibility, a father is to his son, a teacher to his students, a bishop or priest to his people, etc.

For those who do not have roles of teaching, leadership, authority, I think they should freely give their true wisdom and knowledge out of love for the whole human race as long as the good consequences outweigh the bad consequences. If someone makes a scientific discovery, invents something, comes up with new insights, etc which would truly benefit human life or his nation or people, etc. without substantial bad consequences then he should share it because their is no reason he should not, other than selfishness.

Edited December 22, 2010 by kafka

[CatherineM]

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1292996857' post='2193917']
But I bet you could!
[/quote]
I do not know how to make an atomic bomb. I do know how to make home-make plastic explosive. I did it for my 7th grade science fair. I was banned from any further competitions.