Knowledge and Power

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