Sarah Amro Ahmed

DP 1Engineering

TOK exhibition

Word count
(968 without the references and the cover page)

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 13. How can we know that current knowledge is an improvement upon past knowledge?

The prompt I selected is “How can we know that current knowledge is an improvement
upon past knowledge?” This exhibition explores this prompt by reflecting on the knowledge
and technology. It is an interesting prompt for me to explore as the first thing came to my mind
is that most of what we have right now, has been evolved due to its past info. The past
knowledge helps the human brain to understand and evolve the old info to reach the current
knowledge. Furthermore, the present helps us to figure out the past. If one of them is lacking,
the other can’t be understood.

Object 1. Canon EOS 650

The first object is the Canon EOS 650 camera. It was the first camera introduced in Canon’s
EOS series in 1987. There are more developed and innovative canon cameras than the EOS 650,
however it was the start of the autofocus during video recording. It was the first camera used to
record the live sports with colors rather than black and white.

This canon camera is interesting for this exhibition because it is just an improvement of past
knowledge which was the camera obscura. This old camera was about a darkened room with a
small hole or lens at one side through which an image is projected onto a wall or table opposite
the hole. The function of this old camera had helped the human brain to know how he can
evolve its idea to a more advanced device that has the same function in an advanced way.

The canon camera showed that the current knowledge is an improvement of the past knowledge,
camera obscura. With the function of camera obscura being studied and the help of technology,
the human brain could know the physics behind its function. And then produce a minimized
advanced version of it that can be transferred anywhere with us instead of going to a specific
room to take a picture. Also it leaves open a question, would the human brain be able to work
out the idea of canon without the usage of the camera obscura?

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 Object 2: Salbutamol inhaler

The second object is the salbutamol inhaler. It is a short acting beta-2 receptor agonist. It is used
for people who suffer from asthma attack to help them open up the air ways in the lungs by
relaxation of the air ways smooth muscles. Once they discovered the salbutamol effect they
worked on a way to make it accessible to asthma patients by inventing the inhalers in 1966.
Scientists came up with the idea that putting salbutamol tablets in an inhaler would be much
better idea and more effective root of delivery for the drug in asthmatic patients. Salbutamol is
an enhancement of the adrenaline structure which is a hormone that is present normally in the
body and it regulates visceral functions such as respiration.

This inhaler is suitable for this exhibition because it is based on past knowledge which is the
discovery of the adrenal gland that is responsible for the adrenaline hormone, beside the
scientists who synthesized it the laboratory in 1904. The inhaler is interesting for this prompt
because it is an improvement that occurred because of the knowledge that existed in the past.
This inhaler is still exists till now. Before this inhaler was invented, people were treated by
inhaling steam. The idea of salbutamol is extracted from the steam treatment in an improved
way.

Also it showed that without the past knowledge, today’s inventions won’t exist. As without the
adrenal gland discovery in the 16th century and the scientists’ observations about the asthma
patients in the past, it wouldn’t be known that those people are suffering because the adrenaline
is not enough in their body to regulate their respiration. And it wouldn’t be known that the
salbutamol tablets that are put in the inhaler are the treatment for them. The current knowledge
(salbutamol) is the improvement of the past knowledge (asthma attack reasons discoveries)

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 Object 3: The tractor

The third object is the tractor. Tractor is an engineered vehicle that is designed for the purpose
of applying high tractive effort at slow speeds that is emerged in the 19th century. It’s mainly
used in agriculture mining or construction. It is also known as a “farm vehicle” that mechanizes
agricultural tasks and improved farming capacity for small areas by manual plough to more
huge areas with less effort which impact on increasing the crops.

The tractor is particularly interesting for this exhibition because its idea has been improved
according the past knowledge, which is using an animal to farm. Ploughs were traditionally
pulled by oxen and horses in the past, but the human brain became more innovative and thought
of a machine that can do the same function with less effort and better results. In the past the
farmer or the animal was plowing one or two acres per day manually, however by using tractors
and connecting more than 1 plough in it, it will plow 5 or 6 acres per day.

It showed how the current knowledge is an improvement of past knowledge. The past
knowledge in this object is the manual plowing, whether by human or horse, and the knowledge
that has improved it is the tractor. Manual plowing helped the human to understand and evolve
the old tradition method into a machine that functions in a more efficient way.

To conclude, everything we have today is based on a past knowledge that helped in

understanding how it can be improved to be as it is now. The camera is an improvement of the
first camera, camera obscura. The salbutamol inhaler is an improvement that happened due to
the past discoveries of the asthma attack reasons. The tractor is an improvement for the past
traditional method of farming.

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 Sites

Bright, J., 2019. A brief history of Canon | The Independent Photographer. [online] The
Independent Photographer. Available at: https://independent-photo.com/news/a-brief-history-
of-canon/

Hoffman, B., 2016. Adrenaline. [online] Serious Science. Available at: http://serious-
science.org/adrenaline-7601

Museum, P., 2017. A brief history of tractors News World Famous Pioneer Auto Show. [online]
Pioneerautoshow.com. Available at: http://www.pioneerautoshow.com/news/article/a-brief-
history-of-tractors-
841#:~:text=Tractors%20first%20emerged%20in%20the,known%20as%20the%20Barn%20En
gine

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