Knowledge 2.0 - Staying Afloat in the Information Age

'An insightful read for sailors and non-sailors alike.'
PBO Magazine
 

Knowledge 1.0 has its foundations on a solid rock of unchangeable truth. It's a world where knowledge is fixed and forever.

Knowledge 2.0 is floating on a sea of uncertainty and doubt. It's a world where knowledge is personal, evolves with time and approximates what's really happening in the world. This book is about understanding the limitations of a Knowledge 2.0 world and how best to navigate within them.

It will help you make better decisions about everything from money to work to health.

Our access to knowledge is extraordinary, much of it available through a phone that rarely leaves our side. The problem is no longer finding information; it's sifting it for the good stuff. Facts are often distorted by laziness or incompetence, and truths are sometimes twisted or hidden for financial gain, or to evade the consequences of mistakes or failures.

It doesn't help that we – as human beings – have trouble discerning truth from untruth, and fact from fiction. There is a powerful personal component to what we carry around with us in our heads and call knowledge. We process and generate information with a set of unique experiences and biases, but we all have traits that can predispose us to error.

This is a user's guide on how to navigate this new world of knowledge. This book explores both across six types of knowledge that are vital to staying afloat in the 21st century:

Narrative – story is the single most powerful form of knowledge and that alone makes it both incredibly useful and incredibly dangerous.

Confidence – knowing the limits of our knowledge is central to using that knowledge effectively.

Prediction – if we had perfect knowledge of the future, we'd be very wealthy and very safe.

Science – scientific knowledge is ubiquitous in modern life, it's crucial to understand the processes that generate it.

Chance – randomness controls a frightening amount of our lives, much more than many of us understand.

Problem solving — no one's going to stay afloat in the Information Age unless they can fill knowledge gaps and find solutions.

This is not an instruction manual for chipping away at an amorphous mass of contradictory information until a set of forever-true axioms is revealed beneath like some Renaissance statue. All knowledge is personal. The internal store of beliefs that we hold to be true will only ever approximate what's really out there in the world around us. This is a book about understanding that, and how best to navigate the world within that limitation. How to use it to make good decisions for ourselves and our families about everything from jobs to healthcare and personal finance.

Reviews

'Mark Chisnell's fascinating book uses racing and sailing triumphs and tragedies… to analyse human behaviour, decision making and problem solving, offering insight into the best way we can use the knowledge we have to react to a given situation... An insightful read for sailors and non-sailors alike.'
PBO