N-main

“We are living in a period of extraordinary danger, as we are faced with the possibility that our whole species will be eliminated from the evolutionary scene. One necessary condition of successfully continuing our existence is the creation of an atmosphere of hope that the huge problems now confronting us can, in fact, be solved—and can be solved in time.”

(Margaret Mead, Continuities in Cultural Evolution, 1964)

The purpose of knowledge federation is to not show that "the huge problems now confronting us" do have a simple solution—but also, and importantly, to choreograph and streamline and begin the process by which solutions will be crafted; and evolutionary course changed and good progress resumed.

"A new type of thinking is necessary if", Albert Einstein warned in an interview to NYT, in 1946. One of the ways to comprehend the KF is to see it as a way to correct a fundamental or epistemological error; which Descartes and other founding fathers of the Enlightenment committed, and led us into. Whose consequence has been that science and technology prospered—while cultural evolution got disrupted and culture fell behind. The aim of KF is to empower the neglected parts of our growth—ethical, cultural, human development.

Another way to see it is a way to do what is our human task urgent and immediate—to empower our next generation, and next-gen academic in particular, to be creative in ways that their situation requires. Which we'll do by correcting an institutional error—in the way academic tradition and science in particular instituted itself; which grew out of the fundamental error I just mentioned.

Another way is that it's the correct use of IT; Doug Engelbart and other founders of IT revolution envisioned it as enabler for the kind of revolution that KF is here to represent.

Another way is to use the authority of university and science to provide the society THE key thing—VISION; and the ability to follow it. Fifty-five years ago, at the inception of the environmental movement, in an effort to institute academic transdisciplinarity, Erich Jantsch quoted Norbert Wiener, founder of Cybernetics:

"There is only one thing more important than know-how; this is know-what.

It goes without saying that disciplines cannot provide know-what; need to transcend. Connect the dots. Put ideas together.

Thirty years of work, book just out; material in an accessible way—through stories or vignettes. Here to complement—by sharing the academic essence. NOT details—but structure; and invite you to reproduce it by following the hints. And continue through dialog which will follow the book.

I am by background a mathematician; you'll understand me correctly if you see that there is nothing hypothetical. Only thing is "knowledge must be federated"—by which I mean that we must listen, put together and ACT—not ignore academic reports. Definition of knowledge, which is a convention—it's how I use this word. Everything else follows.

Reduce it all to a simple formula:

Holoscope leads to Holotopia.

Seeing things whole and making things whole.

While KF is a product of work of many excellent people—I'll speak in first person to remain in front of you accountable for this; and represent it as an attorney. And stand accountable to answer questions.

Another reason is that it's an outcry. As you will see—documented in Liberation book—Whoever tried to present transdisciplinarity ended up ignored! Here—eliminate the basic objection, lack of rigor, by showing that it restores rigor; and that it follows as next step in academia's evolution. And by producing the prototype, and way to implement it—set the evolution in motion!

Another reason is to use my natural voice to invite you to be part of this; as the thing we need to turn worrying about the future or ignoring the issue—into concerted transgenerational re-creation.

I'll let knowledge federation introduce itself in its other manners of speaking; and illustrate its manner of speaking by letting it federate its own meaning and message.

• In Federation through Ideograms I'll use three simple metaphorical images
• In Federation through Keywords I'll define and use a handful of custom-defined terms, which are necessary for comprehending what goes on
• In Federation through Prototypes you'll see how information is taken into concerted action, empowered to make a difference
• And in Federation through Action I'll point out what exactly I propose as the next two steps—to make the sort of difference that must be made.

Dino Karabeg