Knowing the knower

The unknown has always been looming larger over the head of knowers than the known. The more you strive to know, the clearer it becomes that the unknown is real than what is really known to knowers.

However, for those of us who remain comparatively lackadaisical and complacent, the unknown does not hold as much intrigue as it does for seekers who are always engaged in expanding the scope of their knowledge by following the path of discipline in a dedicated manner. But can knowledge be compared? No, it can’t be compared. Intelligence, analytical capacity, data, whole gamut of information in its myriad forms, all this is comparable but knowledge isn’t comparable. This is the difference between artificial intelligence and human consciousness. And, this difference is eternal. As, real knowledge means ‘becoming’ it and not ‘having’ it. It's 'attaining’ not ‘acquiring’. People attain it and they become knowledgeable, can you compare people? No, you shouldn’t do that. Everyone is unique.

Any attempt by anyone to compare people becomes an attempt to tamper with human dignity. The question which needs to be settled is - how to decide who is most knowledgeable. It is something like asking which country is most sovereign among the comity of nations. We have placed a value that sovereignty is incomparable, human beings are incomparable.

Contemplate a little deeper and you will see how we ourselves manufacture unknown even in the known for the sake of functional reality to stay functioning smoothly. For instance, if we begin to compare human beings with one another then there will be so much bad blood in society. Like sovereignty among nations, certain things work only when these are accomplished in the prescribed manner, we can call it discipline.

‘Knowing’ works when it is not compared but shared. And, when effort is made to maximise it then excellence is born. Excellence is essentially a shared experience of humanity. If you look deeper then you will discover that there is hardly anything that exists in the universe (including the universe itself) which is not a 'shared’ thing. But when this sharing happens in the prescribed manner then the beauty of this endeavour enhances and, its outcome is augmented for the whole of humanity. Concern is that humanity is making strides in the field of consciousness as well as in the field of artificial intelligence. But do you know which one out of the two is going to make humanity knowledgeable and, which one is going to help humanity in becoming knowledgeable?