The Skills that define a TL

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I'm going to say that you want Research at every TL, at least if Research is a technological skill.

The changes that have occurred in my lifetime would argue that Research shifted from TL7 to TL8. However, I can't so easily map shifts from TL5 to TL6 as just one example.

Research is a very important skill but I wouldn't rate it as a skill where advancement underlies a radical shift in paradigm. It's much easier to see that in Physics and Biology. Changes in our understanding of those fields spirals outward and initiates other changes.

Engineer (Computers) might be a TL changing skill. In the information handling area I could have once made a case for Memetics/TL but that isn't a Skill any more.

[JulianLW]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The changes that have occurred in my lifetime would argue that Research shifted from TL7 to TL8. However, I can't so easily map shifts from TL5 to TL6 as just one example.

Research is a very important skill but I wouldn't rate it as a skill where advancement underlies a radical shift in paradigm. It's much easier to see that in Physics and Biology. Changes in our understanding of those fields spirals outward and initiates other changes.

Engineer (Computers) might be a TL changing skill. In the information handling area I could have once made a case for Memetics/TL but that isn't a Skill any more.

TL 6 begins around 1880. The Dewey Decimal System was published in 1876. Right on time. A major transformation of how libraries, research, and information worked. Changes in the storage, distribution, and accessibility of information underly transformations in all the other academic disciplines.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by JulianLW

TL 6 begins around 1880. The Dewey Decimal System was published in 1876. Right on time. A major transformation of how libraries, research, and information worked. Changes in the storage, distribution, and accessibility of information underly transformations in all the other academic disciplines.

The Library of Congress system was developed in 1897. So it seems to be part of the same transition.

[JulianLW]

Originally Posted by whswhs

The Library of Congress system was developed in 1897. So it seems to be part of the same transition.

Yep. A paradigm shift. The Carnegie Libraries in the U.S. were built starting in the early 1880s and transformed the intellectual possibilities of small-town America (and Canada, and Australia, the UK, France, the Caribbean, and many other places). Those libraries wouldn't have been built if not for the Dewey Decimal System and the subsequent transformation of our public awareness of the nature of information. Libraries go from mysterious, odd collections presided over by sages or private or mostly semi-private interests to repositories of public knowledge available to anyone, regardless of class or creed. The autodidact is born. A total paradigm shift.

It could be argued that a shift in the basic premises of the Research skill is a prerequisite for a shift in Tech Level.