Blog Post #3 How does the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge shape human societies and contribute to progress?

Hello everyone, this is my third blog post for my inquiry project, “How does the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge shape human societies and contribute to progress?”

This is my first step of the research, and I am researching how the acquisition of knowledge shapes our societies, this will provide me with the proper knowledge of how gaining and finding new knowledge to research this would contribute to our progress.

The accumulation of knowledge shapes our societies in three ways- technological advancement, cultural and social evolution, and improvements to the education system.

1. Technological advancement: With the accumulation of knowledge, we were able to develop technologies that would tap into every aspect of our lives, therefore shaping our society with how we treat, judge, and react to things. Technologies have a prevalent impact on our lifestyles, health, privacy, business, youth attitudes, and our general way of behaving. With technology making our lives easier day by day with “online food delivery,” “booking a hotel room online,” and ordering products from Amazon or any other online shopping websites, the convenience of technology made us increasingly reliant on the internet day by day. (1) Technology has also improved our healthcare and through the improvements of healthcare increased our average lifespan. Better health care and more years to live affect our society both positively and negatively, where people become more fruitful, joyous, and carefree with their time on earth, while they become more fearless, bored, and lying flat, this is demonstrated by the “lying flat movement” in China, where the younger generations in China have decided that they should just give up on life because they did not see a point in being competitive. (2) Moreover, social media have a very pressing effect on teenager’s attitudes because it provides a platform that allows teens to build connections with other people, show their creativity, and feel more accepted. However, social media have also caused teens to feel insecure and overwhelmed by all of the fancy posts on social media, such that they don’t have any control over what data social media companies collect from them.
2. Cultural and social evolution: The accumulation of knowledge ultimately shapes our society through a cultural and social reformation of our societies. As people research and gain more knowledge about the world, about why humans react a certain way to certain things, and how social relations affect people’s values. As we accumulate more knowledge, more social movements emanate from it, like environmentalism, feminism, and the Black Lives Matter movement, those are all examples of things that we become more conscious and educated on the issues at hand. (4) Moreover, the emanation of those social movements, also sparks more enthusiastic people to research those topics and accumulate more previously unknown knowledge, therefore starting a positive research cycle that drives humanity and its knowledge further.
3. Improvements to the education system: The accumulation of knowledge leads to improvements in the education system, this seems like a simple concept that should have been general knowledge instead of an important point in a blog post, yet we cannot ignore the importance of how accumulation of knowledge leads to improvements in the education system. With more data, evidence, and knowledge about the human brain, we can improve the education system. Although the improvements are significant and prevalent, it is not enough. Based on research, the school systems that we have around the world are not fit for boys, for they do not recognize that boys need to run around more than girls and that boys do not have role models in the earlier education facilities- daycares, kindergartens, and primary schools. (6)

In conclusion, the accumulation of knowledge shapes our societies through technological advancements, cultural/social evolutions, and improvements to the education system, both positively and negatively.

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrealoubier/2021/06/01/is-society-moving-in-the-right-direction-with-technology-rapidly-taking-over-the-world/?sh=3ae26eb87c09
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60353916
3. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/16/health/teens-social-media-pew-survey-wellness/index.html
4. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-knowledge-social/
5. The mind-blowing stats on male inequality – Big Think
6. https://www.economist.com/leaders/2015/05/30/the-weaker-sex