|Peter Boettke|
This piece is by Wang Qingsong -- a Chinese artist. It is titled "Follow Him" (2010). Set in an academic library, the piece is supposed to relfect both the breadth of human consciousness, such that even if this lone academic had gained all the knowledge available in that room, he would only have gained a sliver of understanding the human condition. Some have interpreted it as depicting the futile task of the academic attempting to absorb the the knowledge mankind has accumulated through the years.
I don't react that way to the piece, I see it instead as invitation to inquiry for the scholar. Of course the more we know the more we know we don't know, but that is part of the excitement of being a lifetime learner. We take great pleasure in figuring things out, no doubt, but there are always more things to figure out, and our aids in that process of learning can come from the most unusual of places --- many in rooms such as this, but more often in the experiences outside of rooms like this, and in fact are responsible for the creation of rooms like this.
Hey! That looks like my office! :-)
Posted by: Barkley Rosser | November 18, 2013 at 02:25 PM
Barkley: I think maybe you have it confused for my office ;-)
Posted by: Aaron Packer | November 23, 2013 at 05:16 PM
With Big Data leading the way not only the knowledge become computable but also derive more accurate mathematical predictions. So all the knowledge from economist, Data Scientists can crunch the data weather it is qualitative or quantitative can give results that are of meaning in real time.
Raj
Posted by: Tikki Singh | December 10, 2013 at 01:57 AM