Knowledge excites me. It is not about power in that it establishes the ability to make movement, to manipulate. It is the axiomatic nature of it, the potential. Stemming from the Latin word potentia meaning power. The possibility of knowledge creates an exhilarating sense of awe and wonder in me. It gives me hope for mankind.
The equations 1+ω and ω+1 establish the foundation of my zeal for epistemology. It shows mathematical proof that despite the Münchhausen trilemma’s argument that logic leads to a loop or an infinite progression of logic that beyond that infinity lies something.
That thing lying beyond is the divine. Humanity seeks a relationship with divinity. To believe that relationship comes in the form of servantry is beyond humility and contrition. It is the greatest form of docile arrogance.
Does history and ethics warn us on absolute knowledge? Yes. However we are named homosapiens in honor of our potential wisdom, as the word sapian quite literally means ” wise man.
The danger of the acquisition of knowledge always requires discourse. From the first fire, to lobotomies, to AI. But to understand that those dangers lead to greater success. That without fire we would never have mastered metallurgy leaving us forever stuck in the Neolithic era. Even though fires continue to destroy. To accept that lobotomies were morally unethical without an appreciation for the impact they have had on neuroscience. To not make the argument that the necessity of experimentation was needed to propel knowledge. And to villainize AI without giving acknowledgment of the acceleration it promises in advancing society. To limit us out of fear and deny humanity this time of growth by selling fear is far more dangerous.
The true danger is never the risk of advancement; it is the stagnation of the status quo.
Obama believed in a meritocracy. And this is honorable. Yet, if left in the wrong hands, it is guaranteed to lead to a plutocratic state. Not in the sense of a financially based oligarchy but a scholastically domineering elite class. Knowledge in the hands of any opulent minority endangers society at large. But in the public domain, and with merit and history guiding us, it isn’t idealism but a pragmatic possibility that the good of knowledge can result in the ending of the Anthropocene as it was meant to. With man in union with God.
Whether returning to Eden or transcending to Empyrean, knowledge can lead to the highest potential of mankind. Yet, it can also lead to our permanent enslavement. I argue that fearing that outcome only manifests it. To find a solution through application and progression promises the realization of something greater than utopia. For utopia creates a form of enslavement to the system by its function. Pursuing knowledge in full creates a world of limitless possibility where will is cherished and passion is trained to create impact.
Yes, we need to create guardrails and mentor the advancement of knowledge but mankind’s success is in its ability to transcend, to exceed, to surpass the limits of reason as we understand them. To seek understanding that leads to absurdity and not come away with the belief that we know nothing, but that we have reached a turning point in understanding. That beyond this seeming limit is divinity. And that we have come to our purpose.
Maxwell DeMarcus Saint Squaired lives in Holyoke.