Traveling via abstract systems requires no technical mastery, only filtered lay knowledge

Evidence

Abstract systems have provided a great deal of security in day-to-day life which was absent in pre-modern orders. A person can board a plane in London and reach Los Angeles some ten hours later and be fairly certain that not only will the journey be made safely, but that the plane will arrive quite close to a predetermined time. The passenger may perhaps only have a vague idea of where Los Angeles is, in terms of a global map. Only minimal preparations need to be made for the journey (obtaining passport, visa, air-ticket, and money)—no knowledge of the actual trajectory is necessary. A large amount of “surrounding” knowledge is required to be able to get on the plane, and this is knowledge which has been filtered back from expert systems to lay discourse and action. One has to know what an airport is, what an air-ticket is, and very many other things besides. But security on the journey itself does not depend upon mastery of the technical paraphernalia which make it possible. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 268

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is the core illustration of how expert knowledge gets ‘filtered back’ to lay discourse, which is exactly the mechanism Stevens engages with — he doesn’t understand Darlington’s politics, only his role.
• XREF: Connects directly to the reader’s Giddens/Luhmann frame and to Stevens boarding the plane / driving the Ford in the novel — he navigates England via abstract system knowledge without understanding the map. — connects to: Knowledge is paradigmatic and never exists as bare data — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 744; Abstract systems do not colonise the life-world but interact dialectically with it — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 347; Some kinds of understanding cannot be transferred, only cultivated — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 3945 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Knowledge is paradigmatic and never exists as bare data #qualifies (0.60) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 744
• Some kinds of understanding cannot be transferred, only cultivated #corroborates (0.55) — , The Rod and the Child, 3945
• Abstract systems do not colonise the life-world but interact dialectically with it #complicates (0.50) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 347
• Trust in abstract systems is tacit routine, not conscious choice. #corroborates (0.50) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 222
• Rules without concrete instances are meaningless hindrances #exemplifies (0.45) — Burton, Steven J, An Introduction to Law and Legal…, 148
• Concrete understanding requires adding determinations, not invoking inert background #qualifies (0.40)