Knowledge and Power
By Sam Vaknin
Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"
"Knowledge is Power" goes the old German adage. But power, as any
schoolboy knows, always has negative and positive sides to it.
Information exhibits the same duality: properly provided, it is a
positive power of unequalled strength. Improperly disseminated and
presented, it is nothing short of destructive. The management of the
structure, content, provision and dissemination of information is,
therefore, of paramount importance to a nation, especially if it is
in its infancy (as an independent state).
Information has four dimensions and five axes of dissemination, some
vertical and some horizontal.
The four dimensions are:
1.. Structure - information can come in various physical forms and
poured into different kinds of vessels and carriers. It can be
continuous or segmented, cyclical (periodic) or punctuated,
repetitive or new, etc. The structure often determines what of the
information (if at all) will be remembered and how. It encompasses
not only the mode of presentation, but also the modules and the
rules of interaction between them (the hermeneutic principles, the
rules of structural interpretation, which is the result of spatial,
syntactic and grammatical conjunction).
2.. Content - This incorporates both ontological and
epistemological elements. In other words: both "hard" data, which
should, in principle, be verifiable through the employment of
objective, scientific, methods - and "soft" data, the interpretation
offered with the hard data. The soft data is a derivative of
a "message", in the broader sense of the term. A message comprises
both world-view (theory) and an action and direction-inducing
element.
3.. Provision - The intentional input of structured content into
information channels. The timing of this action, the quantities of
data fed into the channels, their qualities - all are part of the
equation of provision.
4.. Dissemination - More commonly known as media or information
channels. The channels which bridge between the information
providers and the information consumers. Some channels are merely
technical and then the relevant things to discuss would be
technical: bandwidth, noise to signal ratios and the like. Other
channels are metaphorical and then the relevant determinants would
be their effectiveness in conveying content to targeted consumers.
In the economic realm, there are five important axes of
dissemination:
1.. From Government to the Market - the Market here being
the "Hidden Hand", the mechanism which allocates resources in
adherence to market signals (for instance, in accordance with
prices). The Government intervenes to correct market failures, or to
influence the allocation of resources in favour or against the
interests of a defined group of people. The more transparent and
accountable the actions of the Government, the less distortion in
the allocation of resources and the less resulting inefficiency. The
Government should declare its intentions and actions in advance
whenever possible, then it should act through public, open tenders,
report often to regulatory and legislative bodies and to the public
and so on. The more information provided by this major economic
player (the most dominant in most countries) - the more smoothly and
efficaciously the Market will operate. The converse, unfortunately,
is also true. The less open the government, the more latent its
intents, the more shadowy its operations - the more cumbersome the
bureaucracy, the less functioning the market.
2.. From Government to the Firms - The same principles that apply
to the desirable interaction between Government and Market, apply
here. The Government should disseminate information to firms in its
territory (and out of it) accurately, equitably and speedily. Any
delay or distortion in the information, or preference of one
recipient over another - will thwart the efficient allocation of
economic resources.
3.. From Government to the World - The "World" here being
multilateral institutions, foreign governments, foreign investors,
foreign competitors and the economic players in general providing
that they are outside the territory of the information disseminating
Government. Again, any delay, or abstention in the dissemination of
information as well as its distortion (disinformation and
misinformation) will result in economic outcomes worse that could
have been achieved by a free, prompt, precise and equitable
(=equally available) dissemination of said information. This is true
even where commercial secrets are involved! It has been proven time
and again that when commercial information is kept secret - the firm
(or Government) that keeps it hidden is HARMED. The most famous
examples are Apple (which kept its operating system a well-guarded
secret) and IBM (which did not), Microsoft (which kept its operating
system open to developers of software) and other software companies
(which did not). Recently, Netscape has decided to provide its
source code (the most important commercial secret of any software
company) free of charge to application developers. Synergy based on
openness seemed to have won over old habits. A free, unhampered,
unbiased flow of information is a major point of attraction to
foreign investors and a brawny point with the likes of the IMF and
the World Bank. The former, for instance, lends money more easily to
countries, which maintain a reasonably reliable outflow of national
statistics.
4.. From Firms to the World - The virtues of corporate
transparency and of the application of the properly revealing
International Accounting Standards (IAS, GAAP, or others) need no
evidencing. Today, it is virtually impossible to raise money, to
export, to import, to form joint ventures, to obtain credits, or to
otherwise collaborate internationally without the existence of full,
unmitigated disclosure. The modern firm (if it wishes to interact
globally) must open itself up completely and provide timely, full
and accurate information to all. This is a legal must for public and
listed firms the world over (though standards vary). Transparent
accounting practices, clear ownership structure, available track
record and historical performance records - are sine qua non in
today's financing world.
5.. From Firms to Firms - This is really a subset of the previous
axis of dissemination. Its distinction is that while the former is
concerned with multilateral, international interactions - this axis
is more inwardly oriented and deals with the goings-on between firms
in the same territory. Here, the desirability of full disclosure is
even stronger. A firm that fails to provide information about itself
to firms on its turf, will likely fall prey to vicious rumours and
informative manipulations by its competitors.
Positive information is characterized by four qualities:
1.. Transparency - Knowing the sources of the information, the
methods by which it was obtained, the confirmation that none of it
was unnecessarily suppressed (some would argue that there is
no "necessary suppression") - constitutes the main edifice of
transparency. The datum or information can be true, but if it is not
perceived to be transparent - it will not be considered reliable.
Think about an anonymous (=non-transparent) letter versus a signed
letter - the latter will be more readily relied upon (subject to the
reliability of the author, of course).
2.. Reliability - is the direct result of transparency.
Acquaintance with the source of information (including its history)
and with the methods of its provision and dissemination will
determine the level of reliability that we will attach to it. How
balanced is it? Is the source prejudiced or in any way an
interested, biased, party? Was the information "force-fed" by the
Government, was the media coerced to publish it by a major
advertiser, was the journalist arrested after the publication? The
circumstances surrounding the datum are as important as its content.
The context of a piece of information is of no less consequence that
the information contained in it. Above all, to be judged reliable,
the information must "reflect" reality. I mean reflection not in the
basic sense: a one to one mapping of the reflected. I intend it more
as a resonance, a vibration in tune with the piece of the real world
that it relates to. People say: "This sounds true" and the
word "sounds" should be emphasized.
3.. Comprehensiveness - Information will not be considered
transparent, nor will it be judged reliable if it is partial. It
must incorporate all the aspects of the world to which it relates,
or else state explicitly what has been omitted and why (which is
tantamount to including it, in the first place). A bit of
information is embedded in a context and constantly interacts with
it. Additionally, its various modules and content elements
consistently and constantly interact with each other. A missing part
implies ignorance of interactions and epiphenomena, which might
crucially alter the interpretation of the information. Partiality
renders information valueless. Needless to say, that I am talking
about RELEVANT parts of the information. There are many other
segments of it, which are omitted because their influence is
negligible (the idealization process), or because it is so great
that they are common knowledge.
4.. Organization - This, arguably, is the most important aspect of
information. It is what makes information comprehensible. It
includes the spatial and temporal (historic) context of the
information, its interactions with its context, its inner
interactions, as we described earlier, its structure, the rules of
decision (grammar and syntax) and the rules of interpretation
(semantics, etc.) to be applied. A worldview is provided, a theory
into which the information fits. Embedded in this theory, it allows
for predictions to be made in order to falsify the theory (or to
prove it). Information cannot be understood in the absence of such a
worldview. Such a worldview can be scientific, or religious - but it
can also be ideological (Capitalism, Socialism), or related to an
image which an entity wishes to project. An image is a theory about
a person or a group of people. It is both supported by information -
and supports it. It is a shorthand version of all the pertinent
data, a stereotype in reverse.
There is no difference in the application of these rules to
information and to interpretation (which is really information that
relates to other information instead of relating to the World). Both
categories can be formal and informal. Formal information is
information that designates itself as such (carries a sign: "I am
information"). It includes official publications by various bodies
(accountants, corporations, The Bureau of Statistics, news
bulletins, all the media, the Internet, various databases, whether
in digitized format or in hard copy).
Informal information is information, which is not permanently
captured or is captured without the intention of generating formal
information (=without the pretence: "I am information"). Any verbal
communication belongs here (rumours, gossip, general knowledge,
background dormant data, etc.).
The modern world is glutted by information, formal and informal,
partial and comprehensive, out of context and with interpretation.
There are no conceptual, mental, or philosophically rigorous
distinctions today between information and what it denotes or stands
for. Actors are often mistaken for their roles, wars are fought on
television, fictitious TV celebrities become real. That which has no
information presence might as well have no real life existence. An
entity - person, group of people, a nation - which does not engage
in structuring content, providing and disseminating it - actively
engages, therefore, in its own, slow, disappearance.
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AUTHOR BIO (must be included with the article)
Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant
Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West
Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Central Europe Review,
PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International
(UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health
and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and
Suite101.
Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government
of Macedonia.
Visit Sam's Web site at http://samvak.tripod.com
