Communicating knowledge

Symbolic representations can be used to indicate meaning and can be thought of as a dynamic process. Hence the transfer of the symbolic representation can be viewed as one ascription process whereby knowledge can be transferred. Other forms of communication include imitation, narrative exchange along with a range of other methods. There is no complete theory of knowledge transfer or communication.^{[citation needed]}

While many would agree that one of the most universal and significant tools for the transfer of knowledge would be the different systems of writing, argument over the usefulness of the written word exists however, with some scholars skeptical of its impact on societies. In his novel “Technopoly” Neil Postman demonstrates the argument against the use of writing through an excerpt from Plato’s work “Phaedrus” (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York, pp 73). In this excerpt the scholar Socrates recounts the story of Thamus, the Egyptian king and Theuth the inventor of the written word. In this story Theuth presents his new invention “writing” to King Thamus, telling Thamus that his new invention “will improve both the wisdom and memory of the Egyptians” (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York ,pp 74). King Thamus is skeptical of this new invention and rejects it as a tool of recollection rather than retained knowledge. He argues that the written word will infect the Egyptian people with fake knowledge as they will be able to attain facts and stories from an external source and will no longer be forced to mentally retain large quantities of knowledge themselves (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York ,pp 74).

Andrew Robinson also highlights, in his work “The Origins of Writing”, the possibility for writing to be used to spread false information and there for the ability of the written word to decrease social knowledge (Robinson, Andrew (2003) “The Origins of Writing” in Crowley and Heyer (eds) Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society, Allyb and Bacon, Boston pp 34). People are often internalizing new information which they perceive to be knowledge but are in reality fill their minds with false knowledge.

is got by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge