Is Knowledge Power?

In purely practical terms

BK said it all beautifully. Knowledge is empowering.

In practice, the chestnut Knowledge is Power means that each piece of information you have in hand is a potential key to unlocking power.

If I have some piece of information/knowledge not known by a competitor, I have power. In the most reptilian brain sense, that can mean I know where there is a cache of food and you do not. Or I may, like Edison, know how to derive light from electricity.
But in the most often applied form, Knowledge is Power means that I know that your army is moving men and materiel to a new location, or simply what you did in Vegas two years ago. In Fedora Lounge terms, if I know that the vintage watch you are offering for sale is quite rare and valuable, and you lack this knowledge, I have power.

It is a gift, I think. To be able to harvest information from and about others while revealing little in return, thereby gaining more information, ergo, more power. Carefully gathered and assembled knowledge is indeed empowering.

How is that for pessimism, Baron?

I work with and around rocket scientists. Seriously.

Some of the brightest folks I've ever met in my life.....and most are lucky to find their way off the parking lot. To be able to share knowledge is true power....but just HAVE that knowledge without sharing is, well, dumb.

As to the 'power' angle....an old saying in the acedemic world is 'there is nothing closer to God on earth as a general on a battlefield, or a professor in his classroom!' Some professors revel in the power/control they have over the lives and future of their students, and that's sad. Rather than considering that they are an important rung on the ladder of professional development of their students, they decide they're going to keep from being bored in their tenure track (or worse yet, a fully tenured professor who has nothing to lose) and make the lives of their students total misery, and for no more reason than the the fact that they CAN.

I've witnessed it to many times, and for to many years......

Regards! Michaelson

One thing I think we should be looking at in this question is: What is Power? The definition I've thought about is that Power is the capability to have others do your will. This can be accomplished via wealth - you pay them to do it; Authority - physical, religious, social - they do it or bad things happen to them; Persuassion - you talk them into it; Charisma/Mana - they do it because they want to please you.

If you take this as the definition of power, then power can be relative. Compare a priest in one of the early hydraulic civilizations with the astronomical knowledge of the seasonal floods, an early 19th C. rural Russian aristocrat with his estate and serfs, and the 21st C. captain of US Navy frigate. Who is the most powerful? Absolute terms? Relative terms?

Haversack.

Yeah Linc I think knowledge is power only when it is properly applied. I know lots of stuff on esoteric subjects that's no good to anyone mostly so that proves it

Werhner von Braun figured out the formula for getting to space and the moon in the 30s and 40s. Had he not used that knowledge and persued his theories it would have meant nothing.

Vanity, Vanity, All is Vanity.

Twitch said:

Werhner von Braun figured out the formula for getting to space and the moon in the 30s and 40s. Had he not used that knowledge and persued his theories it would have meant nothing.

Click to expand...

Even the greatest ideas need to be funded to fruition, otherwise they're just theory. $$$$$$$$$

The missing link?

The missing link in all systems of education may be found in the failure of educational institutions to teach students how to organize and use knowledge after they acquire it.

Do people understand the real meaning of "educate"?[huh] Remember, the word "educate" is derived from the Latin word "educo", meaning to educe, to draw out, to develop from within.

So to take this discussion to another level is an "educated" man one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge?[huh] Can a man be "educated" but not "schooled"? (as in attending college or university)

Lincsong,

An example that reflects your question is in the area of architecture. Most architects are educated in schools of architecture. A few, however, are self-educated and so can't really call themselves architects as they don't have the degree and usually can't pass the horrible exams. So they have to call themselves "designers".

One can usually see definate differences in the work of the two types. The self-educated often take great exception to accepted architectural theories and ideas. Many "organic architects", for example, are self-educated and most certainly produce a different type of work than "educated" ones.

Tony

And we've all seen those intelligent folks that have no common sense whatsoever.

Twitch said:

And we've all seen those intelligent folks that have no common sense whatsoever.

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. As I stated in another post a while back, a lack of common sense is very frustrating to me. A person can have a stack of advanced degrees sky high, but still not be intelligent, for lack of common sense. A good example is my brother-in-law. An undergrad degree from Brown University, and a PHd in Physics and a Law degree from University of Michigan. Yes, he is intelligent when it comes to these three subjects. But, he lacks a basic knowledge of common sense. He can't have a conversation that does not involve his particular fields of study. I'm amazed that he can cross the street safely.
I do think knowledge can be powerful, but only if it is used the right way. An open mind, one that is capable of not only learning, but also of applying, that can be powerful. Sitting and memorizing books isn't knowledge, it's just memorization. Actually using and understanding what is being memorized is powerful.

This reminds me a little of the Rain Man: a human computer who didn't know what a candy bar cost.

I understand where Daisy and Paisley are coming from. I used to work near the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and sometimes you could confuse people who worked there by saying; "it's a nice day today".lol

Well, anyway, an educated man is not, necessarily, one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or its equivalent, without violating the rights of others.

Is this really possible?

Any man is educated who know where to get knowledge when he needs it, and how to organize that knowledge into definite plans of action. It is not essential to have all this knowledge in one's mind.

Knowledge over Money

Stanford Professor Roger Kornberg recently won a Nobel Prize. What impressed me most is that he is more interested in attaining knowledge than riches.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4444368

Believe it or not,....

...I once read about how many people that have had NDEs have come back to this life after being told they should learn as much as possible and seek knowledge.
So knowledge, which is eternal, is far more valuable than money which is paper.

Lincsong said:

The faculties of the great universities possess, in the aggregate, practically every form of general knowledge known to civilization. However, most of the professors have but little money. They specialize on teaching knowledge, but they do not specialize on the organization or use of knowledge.

Click to expand...

This question presupposes that what is important is money. I know many faculty members and others who find many thing more important than money. I've made my career at three land-grant universities over the past 26 years. Living in university towns is a real bonus. Getting to do work you enjoy is great. Having co-workers (other faculty) who are uniformly intelligent and interesting to associate with is wonderful. Many, many faculty have chosen their work because they want to impact youg people and help make our society a better informed place, not because of money. I find this commendable.

And many faculty Do teach critical reasoning skills and other skills used to organize and apply knowledge. Not everyone is in degree programs that stress this aspect of knowledge, but that's their choice.

So to me, the basic premise that money is what counts - is flawed.

Lincsong said:

That being said, I must ask; "Is knowledge POWER?"[huh] Can a person be knowledgable but not powerful? On the flip side can someone be powerful but not knowledgable?[huh]

Click to expand...

People can be very knowledgeable and have little commercial or political power, but many of them have considerable personal presence and power to impact other people. So yes, I would agree..depending on the definition of "power". I assume it was used in the sense of posessing power to make a large impact on society.

Examples of people who are powerful but not knowledgeable abound in our society, and in other countries as well. They can be found in religious leaders, political figures, actors, and many others. Those who have the public eye and ear often can be observed to be empty shells with no substance behind them. Unfortunately they still have the power to sway others who are similarly closed-minded and un-knowledgeable. Regrettable.