Research

My research is centred around the idea that our current model of thinking, that of technical rationality is flawed, and at the very least needs to be re-assessed. Technical Rationality relies on political and administrative systems that have to be written down in words in order to be transparent in society. Everyone has a job description, again written down in words.

The trouble with this is that ‘tacit’ skills, by their very nature are impossible to write down in words. The nurse who knows in her gut that there is something wrong with a patient, the teacher who spends more time weighing their pupils’ education than delivering it, the policeman who can’t act on instinct, and many more people who work with their hands and their hearts cannot act as they feel they should because it is not in their job description. The inspiration, genius and complex intellectual thought that is tacit skill and knowledge is lost, not recognised by a society that demands everything to be written down in order to achieve transparency. What is left is only what can be described in words. Everything that is needed to achieve true quality is missing. The renaissance was kick started when practitioners broke down the intellectual barrier between making and knowing. Leonardo Da Vinci was an applied scientist and artist, for him there was no difference between the two subjects. In fact, the root word of technology in classical times, tekhne, described any human skill. It literally meant art. The Latin translation ars (no, really, I’m not making this up) refers to artefact and artisan. In modern society with technical rationality as a model of thinking, the working practitioner has no credibility or voice.

It’s time that the intellectual barriers between making, doing and knowing were broken down once more.

With the ability to recognise the importance of tacit skill, reflective rationality and complex local systems developed and implemented by experienced practitioners, society will no longer waste millions on complex computerised systems that are scrapped before implementation, baggage systems that don’t work, bridges that wobble and military action that is based on flawed logic. Reflection is the key.

We are human beings, flawed and in need of spiritual nourishment. Technical rationality alone leaves no room for human error and has created a society where people strive for status rather than happiness.