Hello everyone,

Welcome to globalknowledgecouncil.org. This site provides a forum for discussion around how we, as scientists, assimilate and share our knowledge with the leaders of the world, to insure that decisions our leaders are making are based on the best scientific knowledge available. The most important components in understanding what this site will try to do is: 1) be open to all perspectives and 2) be respectful to those perspectives.

Think of the ideas expressed here as a thought experiment. There are no right or wrong answers. But hopefully, constructive comments that can help build a community of people willing to express concern of how our knowledge system is currently able to contribute to society.

This site is the beginning of a conversation that must begin to take place within the our scientific communities. I hope this site gathers a wide range of ideas and perspectives about new approaches to inject knowledge, information and technology into our decision making processes more efficiently. With that said, to begin the conversation, I suggest that you start by reading “About” on the navigation bar, followed by “The Purpose.” All feedback is welcome, positive or negative, but just please ensure that your comments are constructive and respectful. These post will lay out my perspective and I am hoping to hear yours. We are all living in such wonderful times, where human knowledge is expanding so fast, yet we have not figured out how to harness it. Most people are pessimistic regarding the future of the human race. This site is not. This site is built around the optimistic message that, as individual humans we lack the ability to retain all knowledge, yet with the proper organization and participation of individuals who have this knowledge, we have tremendous potential to leverage that knowledge into solutions.

Imagine you are hiking in the dark, alone in the wilderness. The moon gives off a faint glimmer of light, just enough to reveal the path ahead of you. You hear a noise, and  your adrenaline spikes. When what at first sounds like a small animal rustling in a bush grows louder, you can no longer assume it is caused by a small animal.  Instead, you imagine that you have awoken a mountain lion in the darkness. Stoping dead in your tracks, you remember your pistol… and your single bullet in the chamber. The mountain lion, startled by your sudden presence in her previously uninterrupted and docile slumber, roars and charges in your direction.

In the blink of an eye, you quickly assess all the information you have available to you: type of animal, speed of animal, distance from the animal, accuracy of the pistol, amount of light, your proficiency in shooting your pistol with its single bullet – and finally, your odds of survival if attacked. With the lack of light, you know it will be a tough shot, but regardless you take aim. With your pistol drawn and the lion charging, you think “15 meters, do I take the shot?”  In the dim light, your eyes can’t fixate on the fast moving lion, and you can only discern the general direction of the lion’s harrowing lunge. “10 meters, do I take the shot?”  “5 meters, do I take the shot?” ”Wait for it to pounce, then take the shot?” What will you do? … Continue Reading

This site’s purpose is to facilitate a conversation around our global scientific community that can identify global issues that collectively we can solve. Although a formal council is far from being established, this site will promote an exchange of ideas on how we can ensure that all knowledge, information and technology is organized, available and used to make knowledge-based decisions.

Knowledge-based decisions in a co-evolving world are essential to the success of human organization. From history, we know that catastrophic events have occurred, such as meteor and asteroid strikes, super volcanic eruptions, climate shifts/changes and mass extinctions, wiping out an unknown number of living species. These catastrophic events could not be stopped or their impact minimized because of the lack of knowledge and the lack of organization by the inhabiting species. … Continue Reading