The “smart grid” of knowledge – musing on an analogy of knowledge and power

Some would argue that the most valuable resource on this planet is not oil, nor gas, nor even water, but knowledge. We are living in a “knowledge economy” – this is something the leaders of the world’s richest nations openly preach. “Education, education, education” is a familiar mantra that demonstrates the political importance placed upon this valuable resource.

 

Regarding energy, popular misconception is that there is a serious shortage of energy resources. In reality, we have unimaginable, almost infinite energy resources, 99.9999% of which we never even attempt to use. What we really lack is sufficiently sophisticated technology to efficiently extract energy and transform it into a useful form. And what do we need to develop suitable technology? That most elusive but valuable of resources: knowledge.

 

We can use wind turbine blades to transform the kinetic energy of the wind (ultimately derived from the sun), to the mechanical energy in a turbine, to electrical energy via an induction generator. This can then be transported through cables to undergo any number of conversions, back to mechanical, to heat, to light, or even radio waves, turning an otherwise useless resource into something useful.

 

Extend this analogy to knowledge itself. We possess an unimaginably abundant resource of knowledge, of which 99.9999% of which is never used, or lies redundant. Some is captured in patents, publications, reports, and even blogs, but most of all it lies in our heads. So in the same way that infinite energy resources need to be effectively tapped, transported and converted, so too does knowledge, from a useless dormant form into something useful.

 

So if energy has the wind turbine, the PV cells, photosynthesis, electricity pylons, and transformers, what capture and conversion mechanism does knowledge have? Databases? Books? The Internet? These can at best be viewed as storage mediums, and only a part of what is needed. To be really useful, knowledge needs to be dynamic, to flow, and be converted to different forms, just as electricity is converted or oil refined.

 

The current infrastructure for capturing latent knowledge, converting it into a useful format and enabling it to flow to those who demand it, when they demand it has an immeasurably low efficiency - yet this is arguably our most vital resource!

 

So what about our infrastructure for the flow of knowledge? Is this not the most neglected of them all? Just as energy distribution is being slowly revolutionized by the introduction of the “smart grid” knowledge is quietly undergoing its own revolution. So what will the “smart grid of knowledge” look like? In a new world of efficiently distributed demand and supply of knowledge, where do organizational boundaries lie? Does this not lead to an ultimately flexible labour market, where a job is in fact only for a few hours or days, let alone a life? It all reminds me of the Bob Dylan lyric, “The answers are blowing in the wind”.

March 19th - 2009 Oakland

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