Quantitative limit to societal learning

Nature:

Just as no individual can absorb all information, so it is not feasible for any group to do so even by sharing the load amongst its members. In fact it is only practical to devote a limited proportion of time and resources to absorbing or disseminating information. Furthermore much is destroyed after a certain period. In an important sense humanity lives in a forgetting society. Much information quickly becomes irrelevant, especially in rapidly evolving disciplines. Groups, like individuals, can suffer from information overload. There is no way that some countries or institutions can absorb the amount of information considered relevant by their better endowed counterparts. This is an aspect of the problem of transfer of know-how. Such groups are unlimited in their capacity to continue to learn, but there is a limit on the rate at which they can do so. Another fruitful aspect of this question emerges from comparison of the rate of increase in knowledge production with the rate of increase in population. Each advance in knowledge increases awareness of what remains unknown but, perhaps more significantly, each unit of knowledge produced becomes increasingly difficult to disseminate through the learning process, because of the increasing competition for attention time from other units to be learned. Under such conditions each unit of knowledge produced can usefully be seen as increasing the ignorance of those who are unable to absorb it, for whatever reason. The production of new knowledge for some is therefore matched by the reduction of others into greater ignorance. And the amount of ignorance so produced increases much faster than knowledge production because of the effects of population growth.

Broader Problems:

Limits to societal learning

About the Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential is a unique, experimental research work of the Union of International Associations. It is currently published as a searchable online platform with profiles of world problems, action strategies, and human values that are interlinked in novel and innovative ways. These connections are based on a range of relationships such as broader and narrower scope, aggravation, relatedness and more. By concentrating on these links and relationships, the Encyclopedia is uniquely positioned to bring focus to the complex and expansive sphere of global issues and their interconnected nature.

The initial content for the Encyclopedia was seeded from UIA’s Yearbook of International Organizations. UIA’s decades of collected data on the enormous variety of association life provided a broad initial perspective on the myriad problems of humanity. Recognizing that international associations are generally confronting world problems and developing action strategies based on particular values, the initial content was based on the descriptions, aims, titles and profiles of international associations.

About UIA

The Union of International Associations (UIA) is a research institute and documentation centre, based in Brussels. It was established in 1907, by Henri la Fontaine (Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1913), and Paul Otlet, a founding father of what is now called information science.

Non-profit, apolitical, independent, and non-governmental in nature, the UIA has been a pioneer in the research, monitoring and provision of information on international organizations, international associations and their global challenges since 1907.

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Quantitative limit to societal learning

About the Encyclopedia

About UIA