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We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.
-Bertrand Russell
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We Know Very Little, And Yet It

Bertrand Russell
We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.
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Philosophical Science Engineering

More From Bertrand Russell

We should not be content to say that power has a need for such-and-such a discovery, such-and-such a form of knowledge, but we should add that the exercise of power itself creates and causes to emerge new objects of knowledge and accumulates new bodies of information. ... the exercise of power perpetually creates knowledge and, conversely, knowledge constantly induces effects of power. ... it is not possible for power to be exercised without knowledge, it is impossible for knowledge not to engender power.
Exercise Knowledge And Power Discovery
This society in which knowledge workers dominate is in danger of a new "class conflict" between the large minority of knowledge workers and the majority of workers who will make their livings through traditional ways, either by manual work... or by service work. the productivity of knowledge work - still abysmally low - will predictably become the economic challenge of the knowledge society. on it will depend the ability of the knowledge society to give decent incomes, and with them dignity and status, to non knowledge people.
Class Giving People
The endless cycle of idea and action, endless invention, endless experiment, brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; knowledge of speech, but not of silence; knowledge of words, and ignorance of the word. all our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance, all our ignorance brings us nearer to death, but nearness to death no nearer to god. where is the life we have lost in living? where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? where is the knowledge we have lost in information? the cycles of heaven in twenty centuries bring us farther from god and nearer to the dust.
Ignorance Dust Ideas
So when somebody asks me to make a decision about a situation, i don't offer a solution, i ask a question: what are our options? give me the good, give me the bad, give me the pretty, give me the ugly, give me the impossible, give me the possible, give me the convenient, give me the inconvenient. give me the options. all i want are options. and once i have all the options before me, then i comfortably and confidently make my decision.
Giving Decision Ugly
Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose... one of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites --- polar opposites --- so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love... what is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
Love Is Opposites Justice
Although humans have existed on this planet for perhaps 2 million years, the rapid climb to modern civilization within the last 200 years was possible due to the fact that the growth of scientific knowledge is exponential; that is, its rate of expansion is proportional to how much is already known. the more we know, the faster we can know more. for example, we have amassed more knowledge since world war ii than all the knowledge amassed in our 2-million-year evolution on this planet. in fact, the amount of knowledge that our scientists gain doubles approximately every 10 to 20 years.
War Years Civilization
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