Knowledge is Culture

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Knowledge is Culture

• Lourdes Arizpe-Schlosser
• President
• International Social Science Council

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Knowledge and Information

• all knowledge which can be codified and reduced
  to information can now be transmitted over long
  distance with very limited costs. (OECD, 1996)
• Some knowledge cannot be articulated in
  linguistic form because it is embedded in
  non-technological forms of communication
• Spatial language
• Body language
• Metonymic sequences
• Attitudes and etiquette in social relations
• Cultural frameworks

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The Frontiers of KnowledgeNo longer two
kingdoms but one biosphere

• Recent research on animals has shown they have
• Linguistic expression and sign recognition
• Sensibility
• Emotions
• Capacity to communicate
• Learning capabilities
• Capacity to transmit all of these to younger
  generations
• A proto-culture?

• The frontier of language, intelligence and
  culture, once thought to be exclusively human,
  has expanded.
• The research tasks ahead
• Scientific to redefine cognition and language.
• Philosophical what is human nature within the
  biosphere?
• Ethical rights and obligations to other living
  beings in the biosphere.
• A Culture of Bio-Life

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The Frontiers of KnowledgeNo longer Two
Cultures but One Sphere of Knowledge

• Genes and the social environment
• Universal human grammar (Naom Chomsky)
• A series of mental programmes embedded in the
  brain in the course of evolution (Steven Pinker)
• One example almost half of the I.Q. is
  inherited approximately 600 genes are involved .
  The rest is influenced by conditions of the
  uterus, family, school and, very importantly,
  peers.
• No genetic, biological or social determinism ,
• We are all mutants

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Knowledge society a New Framework

• Ilya Prigogyne we have left an epoch of
  certainty to go into the era of uncertainty
• Ulrick Beck a world risk society has emerged out
  of the limited control we have over the dangers
  we have created.
• Joseph Stiglitz the unkept promises of
  development.
• Budapest Science Agenda 1998 the mayor
  challenge of the coming century lies in the
  ground between the power which humankind has at
  its disposal and the wisdom which it is capable
  of showing in using that power. Five years later
  we can only report continued progression in
  science and dismal regression in wisdom.

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Knowledge cannot be understoodwithout culture

• Conscience, culture, soul.
• -The synergy between scientific and vernacular
  knowledge
• -The loss of intangible heritage embedded,
  incorporated and embodied knowledge. UNESCO
  Convention.
• -No knowledge without diversity
• -Tacit knowledge and local scientific knowledge

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Towards a World Knowledge CommonsUrgent tasks

• Integrate scientific research in one sphere of
  knowledge
• Link new knowledge to sustainable development
• Develop the stock of intangible capital related
  to knowledge creation and human capacities in all
  science sectors, especially social science, and
  in all countries.
• Give emphasis to building human networks through
  ICT connectivity