Humans have the strange tendency to use tangible items or
known concepts to relate to the unknown or intangible. This phenomenon is known
as the metaphor.
There are many historical examples of metaphors. Spenser's Faerie Queene comes to mind.
Spenser describes the Castle of Alma or the soul. In this Elizabethan
time, Spenser describes the mind as a series of rooms, three of which that are
especially important representing “imagination, judgment or reason, and memory”
(Boughner, 1932, p. 90). How is this
relevant? Well Säljö (2002) references the fact that the human mind is often
compared to current technology and as technology advances so do the metaphors
used to describe it, the mind has been likened to the steam engine as well as
the telephone (p.396). Therefore currently the preeminent metaphor to
describe the human mind is the computer (Patokorpi, 2008).
Vannevar Bush and Otlet described their ideas of future
technology using metaphors. Bush (1945)
describes a camera with the ability to take 100 pictures! He uses words like
“walnut” and “glass eyes” to describe
the size of the camera and the presence of lens. Wright describes the work of Otlet and his
Mundaneum, “electric telescopes” is the term used by Otlet to describe
computers or “mechanical, collective brain” to represent electronic media
storage.
So metaphors and this relational reasoning is important.
Säljö (2002) points out that this every day language is important because it
functions as a stepping stone for more scientific discourse (p. 391). So the question is, in this modern era, where
there is an increased knowledge base about the world (and its technology) does
relational reasoning still play a role in the development of new technology? Do
we know too much? Do the things we know, such as the computer chip and the
Internet, limit us? Are we creating analogies to represent radical
technological ideas or changes? Have we plateaued in the development of new
technologies in that they are limited to the same technologies only faster or
smaller?
The purpose of this blog is to explore some of the new
technology and trends that are on the horizon and think about how these could
be utilized in a library setting. I also plan to analyze the language used to
describe these new technologies in order to ascertain whether relational
reasoning still plays a role in describing the unknown.
Boughner, D. (1932). The psychology of memory in Spenser’s
Faerie Queene. PMLA , 47(1), 89-96.
Bush, V. (1945). As
we may think. The Atlantic Monthly, 176(1), 101-108.
Retrieved from: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/
Patokorpi, E. (2008).
Simon’s paradox: Bounded rationality and the computer metaphor of the
mind. Human Systems Management, 27,
285-294. doi:10.3233/HSM-2008-0689
Säljö, R. (2002). My
brain’s running slow today – The preference for “things ontologies” in research
and everyday discourse on human thinking.
Studies in Philosophy and
Education, 21, 389-405.
