Knowledge Is a Map

Knowledge is a Map

In practice, two entirely different things, one abstract and one concrete, in theory seem to have a lot more similarities than expected. Knowledge is a map in one than more way. “Maps are a representation, or picture of the world”, every object is connected to one another in one way or another; taking the example of a basic simple city map, two completely opposite sides of a city connect with each other through roads. Same thing can be noticed in areas of knowledge, what someone knows about literature and what someone knows about math can be related through lines of ideas that connect these seemingly opposite things together. But everything in one’s knowledge is connected in some way, basic information is built on with new information gained and is linked to any other part of already existing knowledge in all ways necessary, same way that basic counting leads to knowing basic addition and subtraction leads to other more complicated algebraic concepts then can later be applied in real life for example doing taxes. Another similarity can be found in the idea of a central focus, in maps it is not uncommon for there to be a central point of there the map is based from, this may usually vary depending on where the mapmaker is from or what they have been taught; with knowledge any person will have their own central focus of knowledge they keep depending on the interest of the individual, be it for vocational purposes or not, they will have more information on a certain topic than other people. More importantly a person may build their purpose is on what their central focus is, so in other topics they will have less information as an individual cannot know everything about everything, same with maps “items not relevant to the particular purpose of the map are omitted.” Information an individual could gain about animal biology as a main topic of interest would most probably cause them to discard information about logarithms taught in high school algebra. Knowledge much like maps are intended to lead a certain person to a certain destination, guiding them through world. A person without knowledge would be lost, and so would one without a map.