The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge
E250721
The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge is an influential essay arguing that seemingly impractical, curiosity-driven research is essential for major scientific and societal advances.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2267670 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge Context triple: [Abraham Flexner, notableWork, The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge]
-
A.
The Place of Useful Learning
The Place of Useful Learning is the motto of the University of Strathclyde, reflecting its focus on practical, applied education and research that benefits society and industry.
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B.
Usable Knowledge
Usable Knowledge is an online resource from the Harvard Graduate School of Education that translates education research into practical insights and tools for educators, policymakers, and the public.
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C.
Knowledge and Human Interests
Knowledge and Human Interests is a seminal 1968 work of critical social theory by Jürgen Habermas that analyzes how different human interests shape the forms and purposes of knowledge.
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D.
The Wound of Knowledge
The Wound of Knowledge is a theological work by Rowan Williams that explores Christian spirituality and the experience of God through a close reading of early and medieval Christian writers.
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E.
In the Name of Science
In the Name of Science is the original title of Martin Gardner’s influential 1950 book critically examining pseudoscience and popular scientific misconceptions.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge Target entity description: The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge is an influential essay arguing that seemingly impractical, curiosity-driven research is essential for major scientific and societal advances.
-
A.
The Place of Useful Learning
The Place of Useful Learning is the motto of the University of Strathclyde, reflecting its focus on practical, applied education and research that benefits society and industry.
-
B.
Usable Knowledge
Usable Knowledge is an online resource from the Harvard Graduate School of Education that translates education research into practical insights and tools for educators, policymakers, and the public.
-
C.
Knowledge and Human Interests
Knowledge and Human Interests is a seminal 1968 work of critical social theory by Jürgen Habermas that analyzes how different human interests shape the forms and purposes of knowledge.
-
D.
The Wound of Knowledge
The Wound of Knowledge is a theological work by Rowan Williams that explores Christian spirituality and the experience of God through a close reading of early and medieval Christian writers.
-
E.
In the Name of Science
In the Name of Science is the original title of Martin Gardner’s influential 1950 book critically examining pseudoscience and popular scientific misconceptions.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (41)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
essay
ⓘ
non-fiction work ⓘ |
| advocates |
support for pure research
ⓘ
support for seemingly impractical inquiry ⓘ |
| argues |
curiosity-driven research leads to major practical applications
ⓘ
freedom from immediate utility is important for discovery ⓘ society benefits from investment in basic science ⓘ |
| associatedWith | Institute for Advanced Study ⓘ |
| author | Abraham Flexner ⓘ |
| circulatedAs |
magazine article
ⓘ
reprinted essay ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticizes | overemphasis on short-term utility in research funding ⓘ |
| field |
higher education
ⓘ
philosophy of science ⓘ science policy ⓘ |
| form | prose ⓘ |
| genre | essay ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | pro-basic-research ⓘ |
| hasTheme |
independence of scholars
ⓘ
intellectual curiosity ⓘ long-term benefits of knowledge ⓘ relationship between theory and application ⓘ |
| hasTitle | The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge ⓘ |
| influenced |
arguments for funding basic research
ⓘ
discourse on science policy ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
academic freedom
ⓘ
curiosity-driven research ⓘ scientific progress ⓘ value of basic research ⓘ |
| mentions | historical examples of unexpected applications of basic research ⓘ |
| notableFor |
defense of useless knowledge as socially valuable
ⓘ
influence on later discussions of research funding ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1939 ⓘ |
| publisher |
Harper’s Magazine
ⓘ
linked to:
Harper's Magazine
|
| targetAudience |
academics
ⓘ
general educated public ⓘ policy makers ⓘ |
| timePeriod | 20th century ⓘ |
| workOf | Abraham Flexner ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge Description of subject: The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge is an influential essay arguing that seemingly impractical, curiosity-driven research is essential for major scientific and societal advances.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.