Thursday 12 April 2007

Knowledge: Its transplantable, Jim, but not as we know it

When talking about Knowledge Management (KM) these days we often make the point that knowledge is in people's heads, and that early KM efforts failed because they assumed that it could be "captured" into a database. I mean, its not like you can transplant knowledge, right?

Well, maybe we are wrong in making some assumptions about knowledge - there is a TV show on ABC (in Australia) tonight, called Thanks for the Memories:

"Is it possible that in receiving a transplanted organ, a patient could also inherit some of their donor's memories and tastes as well?

In recent years several heart transplant recipients have reported unexpected side effects including memories, habits, desires and new talents they never had before."

Of course if you are skeptical... this is a phenomenon known as cellular memory that doesn't quite have everyone convinced. So it looks like I won't be starting up my new knowledge transplant venture after all. Just think, it would have been great for dealing with problems like the ageing workforce ;-)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.