IMANIs 10th Anniversary Messages.-1 The majority of think tanks aim to take on some of the many major stumbling blocks to societys *sound utilisation of knowledge for social progress*. They take the fight to the streets and the airwaves, and do not huddle with like-minded specialists in their ivory tower throwing jargon at problems. In fact, that is why the most activist academics tend to form think tanks or other activist organisations, away from the hallowed halls of academia. Consider Noam Chomsky. Most people know him for his varied comments on international relations and policy, but his true academic home is in the obscure world of psycho-linguistics. That is where he found his respect among his PEERS. But the majority of people in his country and the world are NOT his peers. To influence beyond the narrow domain of his expertise he requires an activist framework. The point therefore is that activism and public advocacy requires not narrow specialists employing narrow expertise to create knowledge in some limited area but the desire to compel society to confront the hard work of putting the broad knowledge that is widely available to the best use. The critical need for those who act on such a desire comes from the simple fact that society is known to act contrary to the best dictates of the best state of knowledge in that society. Experts abound where problems fester.- Bright Simons, Policy Wonk, Innovator, Brother and Friend, circa August 12, 2014.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 11:58:55 +0000
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