Sunday 30 November 2008

Towards a post-human distributed cognition environment

an article by Ali Yakhlef (Stockholm University School of Business and Groupe ESC-Pau)in Knowledge Management Research & Practice Volume 6 Issue 4 (December 2008)

Abstract
The view of communities of practice as the relevant context for generating and gaining knowledge has raised fears that these will fall prey to various organisational, social or political manipulations. This paper aims to question these humanist concerns, arguing that knowledge context is increasingly becoming a post-human context that lies beyond the direct control and manipulation of humans. In terms of this post-human position, the paper outlines this shift, suggesting that emergence replaces human intentionality and the dynamic partnership between humans and non-humans, and that intelligent machines replace the liberalist, humanist subject's manifest destiny to dominate and control knowledge. This paper aims to raise/rekindle the debate on the prospects of managing knowledge and learning in organisations. Finally, implications for the community-based learning theory are discussed.

Hazel's comment:
As is usual I've read the abstract before being able to access the full article in the hard-copy journal but this sounds remarkably as though the author expects machines to take over the world – machines programmed by humans or super-intelligent ones that can manage which us?
Just checked the British Library holding and the printed journal has not arrived but this issue is available in the electronic collection so it looks as though I'll be sitting in front of a computer screen for a while next week!
I'll keep you posted on this one (although it may not be as interesting as the abstract leads me to think it might be).

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