what you know vs. what you don't know

rikkcarey    says:

I updated and improved the diagram which was drawn for me in 1979 by Dr. Dan Garber at University if Maryland Civil Engineering department that illustrates how as we gain more knowledge, we also become aware of how much more we have to learn. It never ends... :-)

* Note: A couple of people have commented “doesn’t the yellow circle represent your knowledge better than the blue circle?” Answer: “No.” :-) (see below)

First, the total body of knowledge is roughly infinite and thus needs to have infinite dimensions, and is therefore represented by the infinite plane that the circle is drawn on. The area inside the circle represents your current knowledge. In this metaphor, it would need to be an area covering gained knowledge, not a line with zero area. As you grow older and gain more knowledge, the circle expands and the area grows. [Obviously, a more sophisticated model would be n-dimensional and much more uneven than a circle, but let’s not go there. ;-)] The yellow circle is the edge between what you know and what you don’t know. You can think of the edge as your `knowledge horizon.' Beyond the yellow is the stuff that you don’t know. And, so the point is that as your knowledge grows (area in the circle), your `knowledge horizon' also grows, and thus your perception of how much you still have to learn grows too.

Again, it’s simple, trite, and a little cutesy, but it reminds me of Dr. Garber’s gentle mentoring and reminds me not to get carried away with my own brilliance. ;-)

See my blog posting on this: rikkcarey.wordpress.com
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )