A Note on the Pattern of Knowledge

I view the Pattern of Knowledge as an outline to be filled in. I built the The Pattern of Knowledge with the goal of representing as clearly and completely as possible the history of human invention. To do that I have tried to include both the greatest of human inventions for they clearly mark the pattern and must be illuminated by it, and the exemplars of knowledge in each phase. While I have tried to find both the greatest works and the best exemplars, my range of knowledge is much narrower than I would have liked and it has limited what I have included. I am weak in music, in literature, andnon-Western cultures. My strengths are in the sciences, in mathematics, and to some extent in the visual arts. I tried to include only what I had read or seen, but that was not always possible.

I also wanted this to be a chart - a visual construction - that makes it easy to visualize and understand the pattern. I thus limited its size, and in some phases that are rich in invention, people have been left out.

I would hope, if this pattern proves useful, that it will be filled in. I can imagine that each of the disciplines would create their own version. And I would love to see the debate on which inventions deserve to be listed in the first rank of knowledge, which have been the breakthroughs, and which have been the ones that produced fundamentally new ways of thinking about a subject.

When I first started to build the Pattern, I found that the birthdates of the inventors were the most reliable means to mark the phases of knowledge. Often the dates of the inventions themselves are hard to find and publication dates can obscure discoveries. Over time I have been able to get more and more dates of invention and publication, but I continue to find that the birthdates are the most valuable markers and have set up the Pattern based on them. Each phase is sorted by birthdate

As you look through the Pattern as it is filled in here, you will note a glaring reality. There are almost no women listed among the inventors. In the intellectural history of our planet, there are few instances of women among the first ranks of inventors of our knowledges in our disciplines. It is not for me, here, to speculate on the reasons; suffice it to say, it is my hope that we shall find in the inventions of the Artifacts Period a rightful share of the works of women and others who have previously been underrepresented. Invention is what differentiates us from all other species, and we should all share in its wonder and its fun. We should all be able to leave our marks at whatever height we dare to climb.