To know more about less
or less about more
| With the emergence of the knowledge society, it has become increasingly difficult to be a knowledgeable person: there is just too much information to know something about everything. So what should an educated person be in the 21st century? It isnt always clear whether one should try to become a specialist or a generalist in todays world. Some people have focused their education, developing skills in one area; specialists now flourish in every field of life. Inversely, others continue to believe that a well-rounded education offers the most in life. |
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Words in Context
11. Tick the word closest in meaning to the boldfaced one.
Admonish It was my father who admonished me to tread in his steps.
a. advise b. threaten c. ignore
Aggregate Why dont we aggregate our research in order to combine our efforts on this proposal?
a. combine b. divert c. elate
Ambiguity Try to avoid ambiguity and keep your comments brief.
a. emotion b. inexactness c. noise
Estrange Differences in the conceptualization of future trends forced two former friends to drift apart and later get completely estranged.
a. move b. neglect c. separate
Intimidate Computer-illiterate employees were intimidated into accepting a pay cut by the threat of losing their jobs.
a. browbeat b. instruct c. coax
Obscure Managers deliberately obscured the real situation from federal investigators.
a. assist b. reflect c. disguise
Pursuit The union is on strike in pursuit of a 10% pay increase.
a. readiness b. aspiration c. hypnosis
Repercussion Inflexible attitude to work-related on-the-job continuous training will have most negative repercussions for a company operating in the context of knowledge economy.
a. negative consequence b. advantage c. cause
12. Complete the texts with the words from the box.
| admonish aggregate ambiguity estrange intimidating obscure(adj) pursuit repercussion |
1. In the new economy, the knowledge component of products and services has increased dramatically in importance and has become the dominant component of customer value. Relentless(1) of knowledge as the primary source of value, makes the new economy led by those who create, find, and combine knowledge into new products and services faster than their competitors.
All knowledge isn't the same. There is no (2) in the fact that explicit knowledge which can be easily written down (for example, patents, formulas, or an engineering schematic), creates competitive advantage, but its half-life is increasingly brief, as it can be replicated easily by others.
Tacit knowledge, or implicit knowledge, is far more (3) and far less tangible. It is deeply embedded into an organization's operating practices. It is often called 'organizational culture'. "Tacit knowledge includes relationships, norms, values, and standard operating procedures. Because tacit knowledge is much harder to detail, copy, and distribute, it can be a sustainable source of competitive advantage... What increasingly differentiates success and failure is how well you locate, leverage, and(4) available explicit knowledge and internally generated tacit knowledge".
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2. Policy conceptualizations of the global knowledge economy have hadfar-reaching (5)forHigher Education as much of Research and Development funding is being channeled into the priority areas of science and technology. Among other things, this diversion of funding raises the (6)question of the future of traditional humanities and creative arts faculties. How these faculties, and the disciplines within them, might reconfigure themselves for the knowledge economy is, therefore, a question of great importance, although one that as yet has not been adequately answered. Insofar as the formation of the knowledge economy policy has been informed by a techno-economic paradigm, it works to (7)itself from many humanities and creative arts disciplines. Academics (8) society to shift to an alternative theorization of the knowledge economy which might offer a more robust framework from within which to develop humanities and creative arts Higher Education and Research policy in global knowledge economy.
In Focus
Its an open secret that societies with the most innovative technology companies, universities, scientists and engineers able to solve complex problems have always enjoyed rising standards of living over societies without them. The "flattening" of the world - the fact that more people from more places have more tools to compete, connect and collaborate than ever before - is only accelerating this, for several reasons.
The first has to do with the fall of the wall and the rise of Windows. The fall of the Berlin wallwhich also ushered in the opening of the Indian, Russian and Chinese economieshas greatly expanded the number of knowledge workers who can plug and play and become innovators. The rise of Windows which began to gather momentum just as the Berlin wall was fallingalso greatly raised the value of knowledge. Because with the PC, individuals, for the first time in history, "could become authors of their own content in digital form," says Microsoft's chief technology officer, Craig Mundie. It meant that so many more people could become innovators and creators. This has made knowledge so much more valuable for individuals. Knowledge economy relies heavily on knowledge workers (doctors, lawyers, accountants) with considerable theoretical knowledge and learning. Knowledge technologists (computer technicians, software designers, analysts in clinical labs, paralegals) are as much manual workers as they are knowledge workers. But their manual work is based on substantial amount of theoretical knowledge which can be acquired only through formal education, not through apprenticeship. The more knowledge workers who are able to author their own content and innovations in digital form your country has, the more productive your economy is and, therefore, the more powerful your country will be.
Working smarter and smarter rather than working cheaper and harder is really the only strategy for a society to evolve and compete with a low-wage juggernaut like China. Why? Because we need our workers to leverage technology so that one person can do the work of 20 rather than have 20 cheap laborers to do the work of one.
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This trend will only intensify. Now that so many previously closed societies have opened up to the world, and connected to the flat-world platform, and more and more of their knowledge workers can plug and play, we are pushing out the boundaries of knowledge farther and faster. The time in which any breakthrough remains ahead of the pack is steadily getting compressed, and to achieve each breakthrough requires mastering and aggregating more and more complexity. When time is compressed and complexity intensified, knowledge becomes a greater and greater asset. Knowledge and top technical talent are more important than ever, so you can gather real-time information, analyze it and use it to anticipate what is likely to happen, and what best courses of action you should take. In a stable, slow-changing world, maybe you do that once a year. In the unpredictable worlds we live in, you have to be constantly gathering information, analyzing it and choosing courses of action, if not every day, then every week or every month. You also need to have people who are very good at solving problems, including problems they never saw before, so they are constantly in 'new problem'- solving mode, and who can then quickly design and build whatever solutions you need for the problems you found.
There is definitely something intimidating and exhausting about this knowledge race, compared with the slower world of walls, where more people could get by with much less. Pessimists admonish grievous repercussions of this never ending pursuit of leadership in progress race whereas optimists argue that it isnt worth feeling distraught as there are losers in every race, but let not the worries over who is winning and losing the knowledge race obscure the more powerful underlying dynamic: knowledge is liberating. It creates the possibility for change and improvement everywhere. It can create amazing devices and techniques, save lives, improve living standards and spread information. Some will do well on one measure, others on another. But on the whole, a knowledge-based world will be a healthier and richer world.
It rates a mention that the caveat made by critics is not about one or another country's paucity of engineers or computers. These problems can be solved. They are estranged by the ambiguity of this uncontrollable knowledge evolution which can produce powerful precarious ways to destroy life, intentionally and unintentionally. It can produce hate and seek destruction.
We cant but admit that knowledge does not by itself bring any answer to the ancient Greek question "What is a Good Life?" It does not produce good sense, courage, generosity and tolerance. And most crucially, it does not produce the farsightedness that will allow us all to live togetherand grow togetheron this world without causing war, chaos and catastrophe. For that we need wisdom.
But this age also holds great promiseboth to solve problems of the human race and to open opportunities for innovation and economic advancement to so many more people. Benjamin Disraeli said it a long time ago: "It is knowledge that influences and equalizes the social condition of manthat gives to all, however different their political position, passions which are in common and enjoyments which are universal."
13. Are these statements True or False according to the article?
| 1 | Societies have always benefited from investment into education. |
| 2 | Flattening of the world increased the number of apprentices. |
| 3 | The value of knowledge devaluated with the rise if Windows. |
| 4 | Complexity has become an undeniable feature of innovative process. |
| 5 | Knowledge race is advantageous for evolution. |
14. Match the words from the text with their definitions.
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| 1. collaborate | a. caution |
| 2. distraught | b. cause important changes |
| 3. usher in | c. serious |
| 4. caveat | d. doubtful |
| 5. paucity | e. get speed |
| 6. grievous | f. cooperate |
| 7. gather momentum | g. insufficiency |
| 8. precarious | h. worried |
15. Answer the following questions.
- What is the key difference between knowledge workers and knowledge technologists?
- What is the most powerful underlying dynamic of the knowledge race?
- What is the key caveat of the pessimists?
16. Summarize the article. Professional summary should include the following information: its topic, main idea, major details and conclusion.
Speaking
According to the article knowledge equalizes the social condition of man. How far do you agree with this statement? Prove your stance with examples from history.
Multimedia2
