Aggregative Knowledge

How I made knowledge work for me, instead of me for it

Most people are aware of two types of people, in reference to knowledge and how we manage it. These are specialists and generalists [0].

In this piece, you will see a series of diagrams as above. Specialist types are illustrated with a vertical line and generalist types with a vertical line. These are purely synthetic, they serve a purpose, and you will see why.

The year is 2014.

I’m choosing my A Levels [1]. A decision which many teachers herald as life-changing.

Why?

Geography, a broad base with good general knowledge and applicability in most fields. Maths was not up for discussion, my parents insisted it was a necessity. Spanish, top of the class, confident and a European language is a plus in the job market.

The only conscious choice I made here was Spanish. Geography was a filler. I wasn’t sure but I knew I could make the grades.

If you look at these choices, there is not much similarity between them. Geography deals with space, place, time and the environment. Maths deals with numbers and assigned values to letters of the alphabet. Spanish deals with a foreign alphabet, grammar, culture.

There was no way to utilise learnings from one in another. I was learning three separate subjects, at an advanced level, which each required…

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