Knowledge Is Not Power
It’s accountability — for the most part
I was convinced Francis Bacon was right when I watched what was then my favourite movie — Matilda.
Matilda began reading when she was barely old enough to go to school. This ability evolved into a unique power she wielded over her peers — telekinesis. Yes — she could move things with her mind.
Which child wouldn’t want to move things with their mind? Especially things kept far from children?
After finishing the movie, I convinced my friends that we should start reading everything and anything, to get to the same level as Matilda. Knowledge was power.
The story I told them was enough to convince them to pursue the same goal. On the stairs to Karogo’s place, we would sit in the afternoon, reading books.
We didn’t want the knowledge. We wanted the power. It was a clever way to excite us to read. It used the classical tendency Charlie Munger talks about — what we desire but cannot have. We acted in anticipation of what lies ahead if we used the same method Matilda used.
It didn’t happen.
This habit became so common that I would later skip classes so I could read. That is a power I never knew I had. Breaking rules. Without getting caught, or reading when the teacher taught in class.
Several years later I began to question if indeed knowledge is power. I wasn’t convinced.
Later, I thought knowledge was freedom
My argument was simple — knowledge equips you with the details and the consequences of picking a side or choosing one alternative over another.
With knowledge comes the awareness of opportunity cost. It made a tonne of sense.
The case I had against power was the insecurity it can foster. The kind of power where you have to always look over your shoulder. A constant state of paranoia.
You begin to question everything and everyone.
The tale goes of Damocles who wanted to have a taste of what it feels like to become a king. A single day on the throne was all he had. The consequence was having a sword dangling on his head suspended by a single thread of a horse’s tail.
Would you want to be in such a seat?
My friend wishes to become the president of our crazy country. He was asked by another mutual friend if he was okay with ending other people’s lives. It’s a common thing to hear one of the leaders in whichever territory kill another to preserve or secure their power.
Countries and empires have been doing that for the longest time. Macedonia attacks Persia, and every Macedon is delighted. When a Macedon kills another, it’s mutiny. For the leaders, it reeks of insecurity. You cannot control your house — how do you expect us to trust you to lead us to war?
The Germans invade Poland and they are deemed power-hungry. Europe invades Africa and it is just another Tuesday on their calendar. These efforts by individuals and powerful states show how power corrupts.
If knowledge was power, does it mean that knowledge corrupts? If the Christian God is all-knowing, does it mean that he is all-powerful and therefore, the most corrupt? Doesn’t that tarnish his holy throne?
These questions made me wonder if knowledge was power.
No, it had to be something else. For a long time, I believed it was freedom. The Germans had the freedom to choose if they would be combative or withhold their arms. Europe had the freedom to choose to be aggressive with every territory they traversed, or gentle. The Africans, too, had the freedom to collaborate or resist.
It made sense.
Until I watched the Avengers Age of Ultron and the Inifity Game.
I dropped the idea.
Knowledge is not freedom.
Thanos and Iron Man think differently
In the Marvel universe, Thanos and Ironman are of superior intellect.
It is almost a requirement that for you to become a hero or a villain, your intelligence deserves an outlier status. I don’t know about Thor, but maybe he’s just acting dumb, which is a supreme level of intellect.
When Tony Stark lands on the battlefield, Thanos is brief with his introduction:
You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.
Deeply cutting words. Knowledge is burdensome. Thanos has to bear the burden of trying to correct what the universe is already doing. He strives to create a balance. According to how he sees it, he’s only speeding up the inevitable.
His efforts conflict with those of the Avengers. In particular, the one who is arguably the smartest — Tony Stark. The conflict brings forth another question:
How is it that knowledge can have two superior intellects conflict?
It almost seems logical that pure knowledge should result in a consensus of agreements between two rational individuals. If conflict ensues, it is either we’re not rational or our knowledge content is incomplete.
After Thanos has wiped the universe of half of its living beings, he goes back to Titan and lives a simple farmer life. He drags his feet and breathes heavily. The burden of knowledge weighs heavily on his knees.
Ignorance truly is bliss.
Knowledge is the opposite. He has to continue living knowing he sacrificed his daughter because he ‘needed’ to. In a single snap, he split the life of the universe in half.
He has to live with that for the rest of his life. Until Tony Stark happened. He too understood the curse of knowledge very well.
It reminds me of the moments I felt like going ape, just like other people would when offended. But because Charlie taught me to understand psychological tendencies, and Daniel Kahneman taught me to slow my thinking to make better decisions, I have to bear this burden.
I could not release. I had to process. It would be irrelevant to read the books and articles I read if I didn’t practice the messages they preached.
It’s a burden. For a good reason. It’s burdensome because knowledge is accountability.
Knowledge is accountability
When the jet dropped the atomic bombs on the two historically famous cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the pilot witnessed the burden of accountability.
When Einstein knew how his equation was going to be used to put an end to the war between continents, he became heavier. He felt accountable for the thousands of lives.
Pushing a button in a hidden room does not foster accountability. You don’t know what happens elsewhere. It distances the one doing the pushing from the consequences of the action.
Knowledge of the effects of smoking can stop one from partaking in the practice. But the struggles of breaking the addiction are a burden for anyone trying to kick the habit. One knows they have to be accountable for the darkness that surrounds the pit from whence they have to climb out, a pit they willingly embraced.
The public health team might announce the importance of putting on masks during a COVID-19 outbreak because they are accountable. The one who wears the masks and feels it affects their otherwise fresh air are unaware of the consequences. They don’t know. They are burden-free. No accountability.
Money follows accountability. It goes, therefore, that those with high accountability are paid more. The leading scientist in the Genome Project will be paid more than this rogue scientist writing this article, the same rogue scientist who claims to have a theory that is better than Natural Selection.
I have a lot to lose. I have accepted that. It is the burden I have to carry for people to at least listen to my theory, Organismal Selection. A theory I love.
J. Cole knew what he was doing when he announced to his fans that his heart was heavy with grief for releasing 7-Minute Drill. He knew what people would say. Still, he said it. He took full accountability. He braced his shoulders for the burden. He was free to choose. He was in control, he had power over his decision.
Coming back full circle, it appears knowledge has its fingers in all these qualities.
What I’m trying to say is…
My philosophy of what knowledge is contrasts that of Francis Bacon. One of the founding legends of hip-hop, KRS-One, might have pondered just as much about knowledge, before giving himself the stage name. In case you don’t know, KRS-One stands for: Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone.
And it can be supremely confusing despite one’s intentions of seeking it.
Knowledge is not just power.
Knowledge is not just freedom.
Knowledge is not just a burden.
Knowledge is not just accountability.
Knowledge is all these. From the perspective of accountability, it is evident how it can be a burden. You have to choose from a set of options. Because you choose, you have the power to effect change and its ripple effects.
Indeed, as Thanos accurately put it, knowledge can be a curse.
