[okfn-discuss] Greek root for knowledge?

Tue Feb 5 01:19:08 UTC 2013

On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 12:39 AM, Harry Halpin <hhalpin at ibiblio.org> wrote:

> Sophia is "wisdom" but also "sophists" were those that in contrast to
> "philosophers" who loved wisdom, simply pretended to be able to possess it
> and teach it. Thus, super-sophisticity could be misinterpreted. You may
> want to look at "noesis", which is similar to "mental acts" or
> "dianoeisis". Supernoesis?
>
> This discussion possible needs to fork - although what we decide to do may
determine the correct word. Perhaps going back to the greek is too capable
of misinterpretation.

So I need a word to describe how Open Knowledge under the current OKD
works. We can then decide whether it's a good thing or not - I believe it
is and you don't. Fine.

 I had a suggestion from a friend of mine that we use:
"okapicity" where the OK stands for Open Knowledge a la OKD.
This extends to "superokapicity" . It's easy to pronounce, a true neologism
, and doesn't mislead. The "p" is there for alliteration (my friend is
modest).

So lets' use okapicity for the inifintely fast spread of unrestricted
knowledge.We can then discuss your ideas in a separate thread.

> Although maybe super-sophistry is the right world :) For example,  I
> disagree with removal of non-commercial licensing from Creative Commons.
> Essentially by "speeding" up the production of knowledge but not allowing a
> copy-left like mechanism that prevents commercial exploitation without
> recompensation, you essentially are providing an ever-larger set of data
> produced by individuals and public sector bodies (both under severe strain
> due to the crisis) for commercial companies to exploit without any
> re-compensation for the actual production of such data. So, I'm happy to
> share my photos with a non-commercial license. I don't want some random
> multi-national to use my photos in an advertising campaign without my
> permission. In Marxist terms, that's primitive accumulation - sort of
> similar to the looting of Africa and other countries during the colonial
> period, but this time done on the level of data.  I think there's some
> thoroughly discredited neoliberal ideology at work in some of the "open
> data" rhetoric, but then most people involved in open data, while doing it
> for the right reasons, aren't actually thinking in terms of political
> economy and thus are quite naive. I think open data can change the world,
> but find the "removal of any barriers" deeply problematic and
> short-sighted. Instead, we should produce the kinds of incentive structures
> necessary to align with the ethics of a community, which I would prefer to
> be democracy and mass empowerment.
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 12:37 AM, Peter Murray-Rust <pm286 at cam.ac.uk>wrote:
>
>> I want to create a neologism for the infinitely fast flow of knowledge
>> when there are no barriers and am looking for a (probably) Greek root.
>>
>> The metaphor is superconductivity and superfluidity. A superconducting
>> magnet can support trains, run for ever, etc. Any impedance destroys it. I
>> want to argue that only Open Knowledge (a la OKD) is fit for the modern age
>> - that licences, logins, etc completely destroy the flow of knowledge.
>>
>> So, analogous with superconductivity and superfluidity do we have a word
>> for knowledge?
>>
>> supersophicity? (sophos = wisdom)
>> supergnosis? supergnosicity? (but conflation with Christian theology)
>>
>> or ???
>>
>> P.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Peter Murray-Rust
>> Reader in Molecular Informatics
>> Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
>> University of Cambridge
>> CB2 1EW, UK
>> +44-1223-763069
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
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-- 
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
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