The Knowledge’s Movement
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Creativity and Innovation have been around since the dawn of mankind. From time to time, an invention emerged to change the course of evolution once again. Even the first steps, such as fire and tools, opened up a range of opportunities for what would follow.
Globally, these opportunities follow a pattern of evolution labeled as Possible Adjacent by scientist Stuart Kauffman, to exemplify the limitations and potentialities of human creativity and innovation.
To illustrate this theory: imagine that everything we know is within the smaller circle, and all possible combinations with the materials available within it are in the middle circle. As we discover these combinations and invade the next circle, we have new materials to be used and combined, the combinations of which enable us to invade the larger circle. This process repeats itself consecutively ad infinitum.
It’s important to remember that no matter how hard we try we can not skip any stages of the Possible Adjacent, that is, we can not invade the larger circle without passing through the middle circle. But this does not mean that human inventiveness has not skipped a few steps, at least in the field of imagination. Some bold ideas, such as those of Jules Verne and Da Vinci, were not possible at the time precisely because they skipped a few steps.
So here comes the question: If the Adjacent Possible, which analyzes the creativity of humanity as a whole, grows to all sides uniformly, how would this movement be for each one of us individually?
I called this theory of The Knowledge’s Movement.
We have a starting point at the Center of Interest. It is where everything that we want to learn is manifested, however, varied it may be. The intermediate circle is Current Knowledge, which represents everything we already know, regardless of whether we are interested or not. And lastly, just as in the Possible Adjacent, we have the Possible Knowledge, which symbolizes what can be learned, taking into account that we already possess the minimum wisdom necessary to take the next step in that direction.
For example, to understand aerodynamics we need to understand physics, and to understand physics we need to understand mathematics, and so on. One knowledge enables the next, and so we climb into the Possible Knowledge.
Since we can not learn and are not interested in everything, we choose a path where we will develop towards a specific area of knowledge. We can deepen in Medicine, Design, History, Philosophy, Sports, etc., getting more information on one subject than another.
But as we begin our path through Possible Knowledge, it is difficult to predict the next step, except for a few who know which way they want to go early on. You start by studying math (as a prerequisite to the next step), but instead of moving to the physics side, you end up going to Accounting.
As you travel a specific path, your Center of Interest moves in that direction, which will determine the growth of your Current Knowledge and, consequently, your possibilities for future learning.
“You can not connect the dots looking forward; You can only turn them on by looking back. So you have to trust that the points will connect sometime in the future.” — Steve Jobs
The shift of the Center of Interest are the points that Steve Jobs cited in each stage of exploration of Possible Knowledge, whose connections are only perceptible by looking back. Therefore, just as our knowledge expands and flows according to our interests, experiences, and contexts, our creativity behaves in the same way because it’s related to the way we interpret the world around us.
The Knowledge’s Movement of each one, however similar they seem, is what makes us unique. It’s the sum of everything we know, learn and see. No one has exactly the same knowledge, even if they have followed the same path.
The possibilities are endless; you just have to use your creativity.
