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Knowledge and Power
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"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:
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
About the AuthorSam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and
"After the Rain - How the West Lost the East". He is a columnist in "Central
Europe Review", United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor
of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory,
Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor
to the Government of Macedonia.
His web site:
http://samvak.tripod.com
Follow us @Scopulus_News
Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2007-11-10 10:58:03 in Business Articles
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