Knowledge - something that has been pursued by great minds from the beginning of history. At first glance it seems to be nothing more than a vast collection of information. Yet no information database can compete with human knowledge and understanding. What is it that makes human understanding so superior to that of machine’s? What’s the difference between information and knowledge?

There are various definitions for data, information and knowledge. One of the most widely spread defines information as data, which has been organized by a human mind. Statistics, alone, are data. Given a meaning, this becomes information, which, in turn, evolves into knowledge as humans incorporate it into their personal thinking processes; naming a purpose for its being by connecting it to other pieces of information they posses. “What does this mean?” –”Where can I apply this?” These are questions that are always asked, if unconsiously, whenever new knowledge is formed.

So knowledge can not be gained by merely collecting information. Remembering a dictionary from cover to cover is of no use, since this kind of information has no value. The difference between knowledge and information can be given a name; understanding. To understand something is to see how it lines up with everything else, to perceive how the pieces of information fit together into knowledge.

This is something most of us notice during our lives. Information is nothing without understanding. One must contemplate in order to learn. But is knowledge really the ultimate form of thought? Is it possible to somehow use knowledge from a higher ground as knowledge does to information? Think about how you use knowledge. Given a problem, you analyze it and select the appropriate skill and approach for each particular problem. You organize your knowledge. Just like you organize information. This insight on understanding is sometimes called wisdom.

One needs to see and feel the logical pathways that drive thoughts forward, know how to forge them and how to handle a vast bundle of pieces, fitting them together the way they were meant to be fitted. For this, there are simple formulas, universal rules of conduct that all of these abstract images follow. This is a skill as any other; no matter how abstract in nature. It should be practiced as one.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2004 at 16:41 and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.