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“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 aim of this knowledge federation proposal is to correct a fundamental error.

Which has been academically uncovered and reported, in a variety of ways and repeatedly, more than fifty years ago. Various other problems and error—including the discontinuity of cultural evolution and the non-sustainability of global trends—need to be seen as its consequences.

The gist of this proposal is to institute a transdiscipline.

Which is an institution or system of a completely new kind; of which knowledge federation transdiscipline is a complete model or prototype.

The knowledge federation proposal does include a way to resolve "the huge problems now confronting us", which is called holotopia; not as part of the proposal, but as its proof-of-concept application. The gist of it all is that once an erroneous way to see the world has been corrected—a radically better evolutionary course will be seen and followed. Or to use our simple formula:

Holoscope leads to holotopia

When we see the world (not through the telescope or the microscope, but) through the holoscope (which is a nickname for knowledge federation), a radically better societal and cultural order of things, modeled as holotopia, will be the likely result.

This website is intended to complement my book called Liberation, which will soon appear in print; and present sufficient evidence, by telling entertaining short stories called vignettes. Here I want to share knowledge federation's academic essence. I will not spell out the details; I'll only point to the overall structure—and let you fill in the details, by browsing through the book, and by participating in the public dialog this book will ignite.

In the book I called myself, with tongue in cheek, an "academic fundamentalist". The truth of this matter is that I've been trained as a theoretical scientist, or in essence a mathematician. I am telling you this because (in contrast with my informal and sketchy way of speaking) it is only when you see that there is nothing hypothetical in what I'm saying, that it's all conceived like mathematical axioms and theorems—that you'll have comprehended me correctly. All of knowledge federation follows from this single and simple knowledge federation axiom:

Knowledge must be federated.

And even that is not assumed to be true—but a convention of language and my definition of knowledge; and part of the definition of knowledge federation. What I mean by it is that we can say that something is known, and call it knowledge, only if it's supported by evidence; only when it resulted from a concerted effort to find and consult all relevant evidence; and also and importantly—if it's reflected in people's awareness and action.

Knowledge federation is the result of work of many excellent people.

The reason why I'm speaking to you as I do, in first person, is to allow myself to be controversial; and to take sole responsibility for what I'm about to say; and also, and importantly, because I want this to be an outcry.

Historical appeals to institute transdisciplinarity have been ignored.

With stupefying consistency! And when we took the torch—or as the case may be this large boulder, and undertook to roll it uphill—we too ended up being tangled up in that same absurd dynamic.

I invite you to join me in making the sort of difference that now must be made.

I'll now let knowledge federation introduce itself in its other manners of speaking; and thereby also illustrate some of its facets and techniques.

• In Federation through Ideograms I'll use three simple metaphorical images to share the point of it all
• In Federation through Keywords I'll help you comprehend things more precisely and deeper, by highlighting a handful of custom-defined words
• In Federation through Prototypes you'll see how exactly transdisciplinarity or knowledge federation can make a difference
• And in Federation through Action I'll explain the two steps I am inviting you to take together.

Dino Karabeg