202109060845 Knowledge is a heterarchy

Knowledge has to be a 202109060904 Heterarchy because 202109060835 Knowledge is constructed — it requires a perspective, a learner, or a choice of framing. No single vantage point of our knowledge can ever be complete. We're required to ask, "how much do I know about this". The questions "how much do I know" or "how much is known" don't even make sense.

The connection between two pieces of information is relative to our choice in perspective. It's also possible for any two pieces of information to be related to each other. These are the core requirements for a heterarchy in general.

Knowing that knowledge is a heterarchy means that we can optimize our knowledge management for this type of structure and make a system that will last and evolve as we learn and grow.

Note that heterarchies do not exclude hierarchies. For instance, a sub-graph of knowledge could very well be hierarchical. Taking basic arithmetic as an example, we learn how to do simple addition and subtraction, then more complicated addition or subtraction, and then build on that to understand multiplication and division.