Prompt:
15. What constraints are there in the pursuit of knowledge
Object 1: Time constraints
The above picture is of the Indus valley civilisation script, also known as the Harappan script,
that dates back to 3500–1900 BCE. While learning about this in History, we are often told that
this script is one of the many undeciphered scripts, and its meaning will likely remain unknown
to us.
Many efforts are being made to decipher this script. Deciphering it becomes important in order
to learn about new knowledge about language evolution, cultural heritage, and understanding
past civilisations. The Harappan script is complex, and not much of it remains for us to study
today. If we could perhaps travel back in time, back to when it was used by human civilisations,
we could understand it better. We could see how it was being used in day to day lives, and also
ensure more writings were preserved from that time. But this is not currently possible and
seems silly to even think about. This proves that time can act as a constraint to the pursuit of
new knowledge.
We can only observe events in the present, and past events can only be observed if we have
proof and evidence of them.But even long events- events spanning over millions of years,
cannot be observed by us for new knowledge, due to our limited lifespan. An example of this is
tectonic activity. Tectonic activity is responsible for the formations of different continents, and
natural features of Earth such as mountains and rivers. Tectonic plates are constantly moving,
but major visible change can only be seen over large time periods, ranging from hundreds to
thousands of years. Thus we cannot accurately predict their movement, which if we could, could
help us gain knowledge about predicting natural hazards and managing our environment.
To conclude, the restraint of time is a constraint in the pursuit of knowledge. We can only see
events in our present, and understand past and future events based on evidence we currently
have. We can make predictions based on present understanding, but they are not guaranteed to
be accurate.
Object 2: Human limitations (including tech)
The above picture is of a celestial body we see everyday- the moon. Although it is the closest
celestial body to the Earth, humans still have questions about the moon that cannot be
answered in the present day.
Questions such as availability and distribution of water on the moon, composition of the moon,
and reason for the locked position of the moon still largely remain unanswered to us today. This
can be due to inadequate technology and constraints of the human body. Technology such as
remote sensing and advanced robotics may help. But despite this us humans cannot go to
space without very protective material such as space suits. This shows the human limitations
that come in the way of the pursuit of knowledge.
The human body has many limitations, one which I listed above. The limitations of our body,
how we cannot handle too much pressure, how we cannot survive with water and food, end up
being a disadvantage to us in the exploration of knowledge and perspectives. We cannot hear
beyond a wide range of frequencies and cannot see beyond a small electromagnetic spectrum.
We rely on machines and other devices to relay information conveyed by what we cannot see
and hear. If we could hear different frequencies, we could gain new knowledge about, for
example, animal communications. If we could see more frequencies we could gain lots of
knowledge about other planets and stars which emit these radiations.
The question that arises is, are human made machines not doing the same? Do machines like
microscopes, telescopes, SONAR’s not compensate for our lack of perception? Although many
of these machines can see and what we cannot, it would be much more efficient if we ourselves
could do it. These machines are human-made, and thus are also limited to human knowledge.
Additionally, machines come with problems such as difficulty in interpretation, inefficiency and
error.
To conclude, the limitations of the human body is a constraint in the pursuit of knowledge. If we
could survive harsher conditions, or could view and see more, we could perhaps discover new
knowledge much more quickly, and improve on pre-existing knowledge.
Object 3: some knowledge is specialized to communities of knowers/ individuals- large
amount of pre existing knowledge required
The above picture above is an extract from a book named “The Semiclassical Way to Dynamics
and Spectroscopy”. This is a picture of the index of the book, showing the first chapter.
Readers with no previous knowledge and education about the basics of classical and quantum
physics will find it hard to understand this book. Yet, understanding this book becomes crucial in
understanding other topics in physics. For example, this topic is important to understand so that
it can be used in real-life applications in fields such as chemical kinetics, molecular
spectroscopy, and quantum chemistry.
This thus justifies that pursuing knowledge in specialized fields, such as the ones mentioned
above, can be constrained by the large amount of prerequisite knowledge required to move
forward. The knowledge that one needs to know to understand new, more powerful knowledge
can itself act as a constraint to the pursuit of knowledge.
Another example can be cooking. An everyday cook may simply open a recipe and follow
directions, but to make that recipe, the chef must have had a lot of prerequisite knowledge
about various processes needed. The chef, to develop a new recipe, must have had previously
known knowledge about topics such as ingredient tastes, food safety, and hygiene. This is
needed to make new flavors and thus obtain new knowledge, in this case about different
pairings, consistencies, and flavors in food.
To conclude, the need to have pre requisite knowledge about a topic can act as a constraint in
the pursuit of knowledge in that field. In many cases, this prerequisite knowledge can take years
for us to obtain and thus hamper and delay the pursuit of knowledge.
Feeback 1:
Incorporate more technical terms in object 1-reduce technical terms- remove one example
(middle)
Second and third object incorporate more ToK terminology