In an increasingly self-serving world, people begin to define and seek knowledge based on their own desires. This is especially true in public education from K-12 to college. Students often don’t seek knowledge in order to understand, engage, and serve those around them; instead, they seek knowledge for what knowledge can provide them. Whether that be a job, which equates to money, which equates to security, which leads to comfort.
Individuals may find themselves picking what knowledge is worthwhile and what is worthless. Some students argue against science and math classes if they aren’t pursuing anything in the STEM industry. Often STEM students are reluctant to enroll into liberal studies or general education courses because they don’t “apply to engineering.” Society seems to lack a desire to learn for the sake of learning; instead, people learn for a specific purpose or with a distinct goal of what the knowledge can do for them.
This is “autocentric” arrangement of knowledge can even be seen in Wikipedia. In today’s increasingly mobile and technologically-preoccupied society, so much focus is placed on the individual and his or her desires. Wikipedia Mobile now has a “Nearby” function where Wikipedia articles are ranked by geographical distance from a user’s current location.
Is this shift in the constructs of knowledge good or bad? Would you call it “personalized/individualized” knowledge or “selectively self-seeking” knowledge? Does that change the effects or just a name? Are people becoming dumber because they seek knowledge that only serves them? Or do they just seem dumb when, in reality, individuals are bombarded with more information than they can process forcing them to select what knowledge to retain?