KNOWLEDGE
AND
CIVILIZATION:
TECHNICAL
AND
THEORETICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Speaker:
Dr.
Lewis
Dartnell
Join
us
starting
at
2pm
for
coffee
and
conversation
before
the
lecture
begins
at
2:30pm.
Abstract
The
success
of
Lewis
Dartnell’s
book
The
Knowledge:
How
To
Rebuild
Our
World
From
Scratch
(www.the-knowledge.org)
speaks
to
long
standing
anxieties
about
the
specialization
of
knowledge
and
technical
know-how.
Living
in
the
modern
world,
we
have
become
disconnected
from
the
basic
processes
that
support
our
lives,
as
well
as
the
beautiful
fundamentals
of
science
that
enable
you
to
relearn
things
for
yourself.
A
work
of
popular
science,
The
Knowledge
is
a
book
which
seeks
to
explain
‘everything
you
need
to
know
about
everything.’
A
thought
experiment
premised
on
the
collapse
of
the
modern
world,
the
book
is
an
attempt
to
provide
‘a
quickstart
guide
for
rebooting
civilization.’
Outlining
dozens
of
critical
technologies
and
inventions
–
from
quick
lime
to
the
crystal
radio
–
Dartnell’s
book
also
raises
a
series
of
fascinating
questions
about
how
societies
create
and
sustain
scientific
and
technical
understanding
as
well
as
practical
know-how.
In
this
WICI
seminar,
Dartnell
will
explore
a
range
of
ideas,
concepts
and
themes
that
are
only
intimated
in
The
Knowledge.
These
include:
the
nature
of
invention;
path
dependency
and
the
relationship
between
the
chronological
and
functional
sequence
of
technologies;
and
the
relationship
between
scientific
knowledge
and
technical
know-how;
the
relationship
between
explicit
and
implicit
knowledge
and
the
problem
of
sustaining
theoretical
knowledge
and
practical
know-how
in
situations
where
these
are
not
applied
or
practiced.
Lewis
is
coming
with
more
questions
than
answers,
so
please
join
us
with
the
expectation
of
vigorous
debate
and
collective
cogitation.