Replying to LO23998 --
John,
I too have difficulty riding a bicycle...and comparing its instructions,
knowledge, and abilities with tacit knowledge. As a child I always had
difficulty riding a bicycle, but never understood why until I was learning
how to downhill ski in my late teens. As with bike riding, I could corner
and stop on a dime while skiing only if I was turning or leaning to the
left. After a few losing battles with trees, I discovered I have a
manufactured defect in my left ear that offsets my equilibrium. If I lean
more than 20 degrees to the right, it feels like I'm going to fall over.
I've learned to compensate for this in both skiing and bicycling by
increasing my speed. The faster I go, the less I have to lean to
navigate. However, distance and time become extremely important factors
in my need to stop. If I must stop while turning to the right at high
speeds, the result is the same as that at slow speeds (except more
spectacular as I've been told). I crash.
As far as I know, I possess all the "tacit knowledge" to ride a bicycle
and downhill ski. It's a physical handicap that prevents me from
measuring up to others with the same "level" of knowledge. But in reading
your passage, it made me think about other "physical" entities for which
I'm sure I have knowledge about, but cannot explain. At and yourself have
talked of the transformations in chemistry from different perspectives.
What about the beating of ones heart? I must contain the chemistry and
neurology that allows my brain to control its beating, but do I require
"knowledge" to make it function as well? If I do, where did I get this
knowledge? Instinct? Is instinct considered "tacit" knowledge? When my
heart stops beating, I'd sure like to possess the knowledge to get it
started again!
Regards,
Bill
-- Bill Hancy Requirements Analyst Alexandria, VA 22302 hancy@strsol.comLearning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
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