Transfer of Knowledge

Context is the environment in which the knowledge is produced and thus applied. Taking knowledge and transferring it into another context can often lead to a mismatch between the original intent of the knowledge production and how it would be applied to the new context. It is important to ensure that the relevant challenges to transferring knowledge from the original context to another must be addressed considerably to ensure that this knowledge is applied appropriately and meaningful results or implications are gained. This essay explores the question “Do we underestimate the challenges of taking knowledge out of its original context and transferring it to a different context?”. “Underestimate” here assumes that the challenges to the context change are not completely disregarded but instead given proportionately less importance. Do all knowers underestimate the challenges of applying knowledge in a context different from the original? Or could it be possible that it is the specific responsibility of some groups of knowers? This essay will look into two AOKs, namely Natural Sciences and Human Sciences to understand the perspective on how challenges to changing contexts are considered in these AOKs respectively.

In the natural sciences context is often referred to as not only the laboratory situation or the physical experimentation environment in which scientific knowledge is produced but also the problem that is intended to be solved through the experimentation. Whereas, we find the human sciences to be a field of social exploration where the social, mental, and emotional conditioning of the test subjects may be the context of the knowledge being produced. A change in context for either will have its challenges arising depending on the context to which the knowledge was thus transferred.

In 1856, Louis Pasteur conducted the first experiments that explored the effects of microorganisms like Yeast. It was scientifically identified as a metabolic process of converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide in reaction due to its robust and evolved metabolic pathways that allow this process to occur. Further evidence collection on these metabolic properties of Yeast allowed for its implementation in other applications such as its use as a medium to synthetically grow valuable spider silk from a species of spider called the Golden Orb Weaver Spider with a variety of industrial and commercial applications due to its tensile strength. The knowledge explained through research on the properties of organisms such as Yeast allowed other experts in the natural sciences to utilize the same knowledge in a different context to achieve goals wildly different from its original implications in the culinary context. It was only through an arduous process of long and extensive experimentation on Yeast cells that allowed for challenges such as the validity of its application as a host mechanism be considered to a large extent. Change of context does not necessarily always have to be across AOKs and can instead occur within AOKs with different contexts that are reflected as the goals of taking it out of context and the intent behind it.

Alternatively, perhaps due to a difference in scientific practices at different periods of time we also see cases in natural sciences where all challenges were perhaps not considered before the knowledge was applied in a different context leading to unexpected consequences. For instance, when Henri Becquerel discovered the presence of radiation by accident in an experiment in 1896, it laid the foundation for radioactivity. Marie and Pierre Curie identified other radioactive elements displaying properties similar to uranium salts such as radium and polonium. As the properties of these radioactive elements were explored further it prompted a transfer of knowledge to medical applications in using radium for early cancer treatments due to its property of emitting ionizing radiation. Due to a lack of certainty on the long-term implications of using radiation for treatment, it was found that it damaged the DNA of rapidly dividing cancerous cells allowing for its use in treatment. However, at the time experts in medicine and natural sciences could not explore the external impact of radiation usage. The ionizing radiation from radium can target healthy cells along with cancer cells leading to a further deterioration of health. Furthermore, it was later found that due to some of the unknown properties of radium during that time, radiation stayed in the bodies of patients for a long period of time after treatment. This illustrates how although natural sciences are assumed to be an area of knowledge where all exploration and application is based on extensive research and experimentation, there may be scenarios where not all challenges to taking knowledge from one context to another may be estimated perhaps due to unestablished practices of scientific knowledge production or the inability to fully gauge all challenges.

Similarly, if we bring our attention to the human sciences, Business Promotion theories like the Retain and Visual Merchandising theory are based upon knowledge produced by attention theories like Broadbent’s Filter Model and Feature Integration Model by Treisman and Galade that talk about the selective processing of information and visual elements from psychology to achieve profit-maximizing business functions. Thus the Attention Theory has been a prominent cognitive understanding of how human attention works further applied in business contexts. However, some challenges may have been overlooked for example, many knowers may find themselves deceived by misleading advertising techniques thus resulting in bad faith for the business. Businesses may also experience failures due to underestimating the fact that knowledge produced in the human sciences is often done so in specific environments and conditions. This begs whether all challenges like these have been sufficiently addressed before knowledge from psychology is used in business environments to achieve profitability goals irrelevant to the implications of the attention theory. While the application of knowledge may be beneficial and appreciated in a different context, it may not be in line with the ethical norms of taking knowledge out of its context and can have various other implications. Subsequently, the transfer of mathematical equations and concepts into economic contexts is very common in economics as seen in the Cobb-Douglas Production function. This function generally refers to the relationship between multiple factors of production factored into a constant of production to reflect the production level of a firm. However, when this mathematical equation is applied in economic contexts there are some limitations to its accuracy since the function makes assumptions about the productivity of a firm. It also assumes that the input factors of production taken are independent which may not be the case since often these inputs are interdependent. These challenges dictate the accuracy of economic explorations that employ this quantitative approach. However, the transfer of mathematical equations to economics acted as a catalyst for other economists to build upon the mathematical knowledge to make it more reflective of the various agents involved in economic decision-making. Solow’s Growth Model addressed many of the limitations of the Cobb-Douglas model and expanded into macroeconomics by looking at growth on a larger scale by taking into account increases in productivity, instead of a constant. This also refers to a change in context from individual firms to entire economies. This highlights that though there were challenges in applying knowledge in a different context, their existence allowed for the overall growth of the subject thus in turn addressing those challenges in part or full.

Through this exploration, we observe how in some AOKs like natural sciences it is precedent that any change in the context of knowledge must only be fully done with the proper empirical exploration of all implications of taking the knowledge out of context. Its validity is ensured so that its use can be justified in further scientific research. Experts may find themselves discredited if any knowledge is utilized in a different context without proper consideration of all challenges. However, we also see that these norms and procedures differ during different times and understand that precedents keep changing and adapting as new evidence and examples come forth that prove their inadequacy or the scope for a scientific procedure to be carried out in a better manner. The challenges arising in the natural sciences, from the changing contexts, are often taken into account before their widespread implication in the other scientific contexts due to these precedents.

Furthermore, in a relatively more subjective area of knowledge such as the human sciences, there still exist challenges in the change of contexts for the use of knowledge, however, the nature of these challenges may be different than other AOKs. Business leaders implement psychological explorations to achieve profit-maximizing goals without completely considering all the ethical and legal responsibilities of subjecting possible consumers to psychological techniques to manipulate their attention. Whereas, although there may be challenges leading to limitations in the full employment of mathematical equations to represent economic factors, it promotes further growth in the field so that those challenges can be overcome and better economic understanding can be achieved by groups of knowers.

There exist many challenges across various spheres of the knowledge framework when taking knowledge out of its original context and transferring it to a different context, like the relevance of the scope of the knowledge, the ethics of the decision to transfer the knowledge from one area to another and while some AOKs may have procedures and practices ingrained in them over time to ensure these challenges are carefully estimated accurately, other AOKs may not, but can end up as a benefit due to a knower’s natural tendency to overcome visible challenges in the acquisition, implementation or dissemination of knowledge.

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