I had some interesting conversations in the event "Intra.net Reloaded" at Berlin last April 19/20.  In particular, when talking about definitions of knowledge I tried to explain my view of "knowledge as a mental phenomena" and I thought of this example, which I think could complete what I have explained somewhere else (e.g. here, or here).


Let´s start with this bit taken from another post:

"The version of you who does not know how to analyze a balance sheet is different from the version who can. If dealing with balance sheets is necessary for your work, then knowledge management is what must happen to get you from one version of you to the other"

That is, in the continuum of time, there are many versions of yourself, which know different things. For the sake of argument, let´s say that,
Time x     -> Version x - You do not know how to analyze a balance sheet.
Time x+1 -> Version x+1 - You do know how to analyze a balance sheet.

The difference between versions x+1 and x, all other things being equal, is precisely the knowledge to analyze a balance sheet. This difference is what I refer to when I speak about "knowledge". For sure, in order to elicit this new knowledge, there must have been some physical changes in the brain that create this understanding. However, the relevant part of this whole change is the conscious access to a truth that was always there.

References

definition knowledge management