The Optimum Utilization Of Knowledge: Making Knowledge Serve Human Betterment

We all have more knowledge than we use; even so, say the editors of this book, ignorance often governs our actions. Society continues to find ways to misuse knowledge–from manipulating information to gain political power to restricting what ideas are explored on university campuses. Thus, when some of the best minds in the country met to focus on the optimum utilization of knowledge, it was not an idle academic inquiry. In these proceedings from that conference, which was sponsored by the Academy of Independent Scholars, the contributors examine several of the key aspects of learning: the importance of knowledge in decision making, the role of our educational system and other systems in producing and disseminating knowledge, and the relationship between knowledge and the physiological, psychological, and cultural bases of the learning process. The misuse of knowledge–or the overuse of ignorance–the authors note, could threaten the existence of the entire planet, if the kind of thinking exemplified by the nuclear arms race prevails.

Kenneth E. Boulding is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is a well-known author and past president of several organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Economic Association. Lawrence Senesh, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is copresident and founding member (with Kenneth Boulding) of the Academy of Independent Scholars. He is also one of the founders of the Social Science Education Consortium. The academy was established in 1979 to provide a creative environment for retired scholars and for those whose independent scholarship does not fit the conventional niches of their institutions.