The Answer is in the Question
What is a Question?
The question is a little understood element of human cognition, but the question has incredible power and is at the center of every scientific and technological advance. The question is a central aspect of both learning and knowledge creation.
Questions are actually little building blocks that make up the perceivable unknown. They can be manipulated to speed up, even mechanize, the processes of learning and knowledge creation.
Questions are a perceived lack of knowledge structure. All data lacks structure, but questions are the act of perceiving this lack of structure. One, for example, would not be able to formulate a question if they do not have knowledge context around a particular topic. Consider an engineering professional trying to formulate a question that advances nuclear physics. While there may be parallels and similarities between the two fields, it takes knowledge context to be able to answer questions that arise in a particular knowledge context at the cutting edge level that advances that discipline.
There are two fundamental types of questions, knowledge creation questions and learning questions. Knowledge creation questions are questions about knowledge that does not yet exist while learning questions are questions about knowledge that does exist. Knowledge creation questions are asked at the cutting edge, while learning questions are asked by the learner within the knowledge context.
For the learner, questions are everything that they perceive they do not know, but want to know. When a learner is being instructed, they are forming logical connections and knowledge structure in their own minds from the knowledge they are receiving. For the knowledge creator, questions lie outside of the known. They are typically advanced thinkers in a particular discipline that question areas outside of the current social understanding.
For the knowledge creator, questions are raised in reference to the particular knowledge context they are working with. In most cases today, these knowledge creation questions are seen as individual questions that are confronted one at a time, versus being managed as a collective of all questions related to that knowledge context.
In fact, everything a society knows, all knowledge, has an antithetical "structure" of knowledge creation questions surrounding it. The collective of knowledge creation questions, or questions about knowledge that does not yet exist, can be manipulated as a group so as to expedite, or even mechanize, knowledge creation. This process is true 'artificial intelligence,' or more accurately termed 'artificial knowledge creation.'
The mind bending aspect of the question is that it is often very difficult to know what society actually knows and does not know. This is why the concept of the question, in particular the two types of questions, has been so elusive. It is from this arena that the concept of tacit knowledge needs to be confronted.
What is Anti-Knowledge?
The sum of human knowledge is surrounded by an antithetical structure called anti-knowledge. Anti-knowledge is the realm of perceivable questions. Questions exist as a polar opposite to each and every knowledge context. The line between knowledge and questions is what is known as the leading edge or cutting edge. The knowledge creation process operates on this cutting edge by converting questions to logical knowledge structure.
Intelligence is knowledge compiled and stored that can be recalled. One can be intelligent and never create knowledge. Learning is the transfer of knowledge from society to individual or from individual to individual. One can learn and never create knowledge.So then, understanding intelligence and learning does not guarantee an understanding knowledge creation.
Questions are answered and become knowledge and then more questions arise about that knowledge. This is the perpetual cycle of knowledge creation and it always operates on the 'cutting edge' of knowledge.
Anti-Knowledge -
The sum of questions has a yin and yang relationship with the sum of human knowledge. The dividing line between the sum of human knowledge and the sum of questions is the cutting edge or leading edge. The knowledge creation process operates on this cutting edge and converts questions to knowledge by structuring them.
Terms like genius, creativity, innovation, creative problem solving, and knowledge creation have been historically studied and represented as loosely related topics. When appropriately understood, all of these terms can be encapsulated into a single cycle of knowledge and anti-knowledge as follows:
- Definition/Solution/Structure (Knowledge Context)
- Question/Problem
- Logical Operation (connects/structures/defines)
- Result: Advanced Definition/Solution/Structure
- Return to Step 2
Mechanization of this question/definition cycle is artificial intelligence. (2004-07-26)
