Balkan Journal of Philosophy

Volume 8, Issue 2, 2016

Constantin Stoenescu
Pages 135-142

The Knowledge-Based Society and the Reverse Transition from Knowledge to Information

The knowledge-based society developed technologies of information in order to make better use all the data it had acquired and to manage it efficiently. Computers have replaced human memory and improved other human capacities. However, these changes have had some hidden effects. Some information is processed by computers, and the epistemic subject is replaced by them. From an epistemological point of view, we cannot speak about the bits of knowledge that are stored, but only the semantic information or data which is attached. Secondly, in the case of an epistemic subject, the so-called tacit knowledge which is incorporated into skills and practical capacities becomes more important, and is externalized in new forms. Therefore, my claim is that we can speak of a paradoxical reverse transition from knowledge to information in the knowledge-based society.