My concept of the 7 Belief systems has 3 domains: Love, Knowledge and Power. Love is a neutral domain and the 7th Belief system. The current Knowledge domain consists of Philosophy, Science including Technology, and the Truth. The current Power domain includes Money, Politics, and Religion. Knowledge and Power are usually more or less in balance.
In part 1 of the future paradigm shifts within the 7 Belief systems, I noticed that the future Power domain gets a very powerful combination of Data/Info, Money and Technology. The future Knowledge domain (Faith, Philosophy, Science) seems an inadequate counterweight.
This future imbalance made me wonder about the consequences when the notion Knowledge = Power would no longer apply.
All advanced ancient civilisations have always collapsed (eg, AO, 2014 study). There has never been an advanced civilisation that lasted until today. Why? The Great Filter hypothesis usually refers to Climate Change and/or (inadequate) Technology (to leave Earth in time).
There might be a 3rd reason. Over time, several scholars have argued that Knowledge equals Power (eg, Imam Ali, Francis Bacon, Michel Foucault). This notion might be different in the 4 stages of civilisations, being: Needs, Wants, Beliefs, and Awakening. All advanced civilisations only migrated through 3 of the 4 stages, and never reached an Awakening.
The Knowledge = Power notion only seems to apply in the 1st and 2nd stage of civilisations: Needs and Wants. In the Beliefs stage, people believe that Power is stronger than Knowledge. Such a belief would ultimately cause (global) military conflict, and that would bring (global) civilisations back to their Needs stage.
In my 2016 blog, I explained why opinions (= Beliefs) are stronger than facts (= Knowledge). Excerpt of my 2016 blog: “The essential characteristic of any Belief system is the willingness to die for that Belief – or to sacrifice oneself for the Cause. Knowledge (ie, facts) will never ever be a reason to sacrifice oneself. Ignorance is a perfect shield. This is the key reason why opinions are stronger than facts.”
The combination of ignorance (Knowledge) and arrogance (Power) might be the 3rd reason why all advanced civilisations have collapsed over time. Such a civilisation would no longer appreciate the Knowledge = Power notion. Interestingly, Proverbs 16:18 (CSB) makes a reference to this: “Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.”
“The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people.” A quote by American novelist Tom Clancy (1947-2013).
Knowledge is Power versus Power is Power
(video fragment from Game of Thrones)
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underling) by LO unless stated otherwise
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