Knowledge is power

Genesis

Let's think about the basic framework of how you make friends. The easiest way to think about your friend is someone who is most relatable to you, someone who shares many things in common with you, someone you can connect with on many levels. The exchanges you have with your friends are often about ideas, such as your views about things, people, culture, and events. When you share more such threads, trust develops between the individuals, and this leads to more exchanges. The more successful exchanges occur, the more trust develops, and this becomes a deeper relationship with this person.

The keyword in this metaphor is idea. Human beings connect with ideas. Ideas don't need to be the only element that connects people. Rather, material interests or other vested interests also connect people. Your aspirations connect people. The transactions do occur in these cases as well, so here the relationship becomes more transactional and you mutually trust each other, but this trust is verified.

Evolution

So ideas are key to building relationships. Where do these ideas come from? We are building this thread to explain a different context, so I will stick to that. What if you could think about an idea that has the power to connect so many people? In the circles of your friendship, these ideas have a limited scope to a few people. But think about a grand idea that can build more such relationships, into a larger network of 100 to 1000 or maybe even millions. So ideas technically bring people together. Not only that, ideas have this enormous capacity to exceed power. Let's get some clarity on power. Power is your influence over someone. You tell your friend, "Dude, do this," and he does it. That's your power over him. He does it because he is your friend. Again, what brought both of you together is a sequence of ideas. So power is technically derived from relationships, and the crux of the relationships is ideas that are mutually shared. In other words, ideas are basically knowledge that you share mutually. Thus, knowledge is power.

Extrapolating from this thread, for larger circles, you need larger ideas, you have to bring everyone under this idea, and at this point you have to be more creative in thinking about ideas, because at this point in time your idea has to be so general it should be relatable for masses, now you are no more the dude who wants to build a friends circle of 4-5 people, here you are not dealing with a lack of population, the interest is power. It turns out that if you need to create a large population under your power, you need to create a larger knowledge system, this knowledge system is a stack of ideas that is relatable to each group of people in a society.

The better you are able to establish a knowledge base, the more firm your control over the population will be, and the more power you will harness. The power derived from knowledge gives you invaluable trust, which will allow you to do so many interpersonal transactions. This power can be used to create new knowledge, as that can work in reverse for you. At this point, power creates knowledge, and knowledge is going to create more power. But how does that work?

Dynamics in Knowledge Construction

When you think about the process of creating knowledge, there are several subproblems in that single problem statement: the legitimacy of the knowledge itself. What do I mean by that? Let's think about a case of history. History is important because human beings, there are several ways history works at you, human beings identify themself in some categories: your caste, your nation, your family background. Any of these can be your category. This is called identity.

Human beings have this tremendous curiosity to look back into time and explore its origins. We spend billions of dollars every year to explore this curiosity. If you ask me to put a number to it, Think of the $20 billion we spend on particle colliders is to explore the history of the origin of the universe. This is for the larger human cause, but this curiosity of human beings to look back in time can be capitalized to build knowledge systems.

There is a connection between the past and happiness, arguing that our understanding of the past shapes our identities and experiences. Our histories provide a foundation for determining what brings us joy. Envy, arises from an attachment to the past and a desire for something lost or never possessed. In happy moments, we draw upon past experiences to attribute value and significance to the present.

In our era of extensive mass migration, individuals often experience a sense of disconnection. Take, for instance, someone who has relocated from a small village in Maharashtra to a sprawling megacity like Bangalore. To bridge this gap, you create multi level memories in the generation of the migrant population. You start with constructing a new identity, followed by the development of a knowledge base tailored to your new environment.

During the Industrial Revolution in France, a significant shift occurred as people began migrating from rural villages to urban areas, particularly Paris. This mass movement was driven by the promise of employment opportunities in factories and industries that were rapidly developing in the city. However, this urbanization came with unforeseen challenges. The newcomers, often from diverse backgrounds and regions, struggled to integrate into the existing Parisian society. They faced social isolation, discrimination, and a loss of their traditional communities and support systems. This sense of alienation and disconnection contributed to a rise in suicide rates in Paris, which alarmed the authorities. In response to this crisis, the French administration embarked on a project to forge a new national identity that would unite the diverse population of Paris. This involved a range of initiatives aimed at fostering a sense of belonging and shared purpose among the city's residents.

History frequently serves as a pivotal component in this process, acting as a remarkable tool for fostering connections. Those who share a common historical background often discover a sense of kinship, aiding in the alleviation of alienation. Therefore, the crafting of an appropriate narrative can unite people, while other narratives may foster division or introduce new social constructs.

How ever history is pretty much driven by interpretations. Different people have different interpretations of history. Their biases of the world will reflect in that history. So if you have 100 people trying to build the history, these 100 people will have different interpretations of history. How do you legitimize which history is legit? It turns out, you could use your power to legitimize that piece of information. We call this piece of information narrative. It is the historian's interpretation that does all this power transformation.

Power constructs something called opinion makers. The opinion makers cherry-pick history in a way that serves their interests. These new opinions create a new memory in the population, which reorganizes society in a way that maximizes power thus bring more control over them. The powerful legitimize history by giving privileges and entitlements to the historians who write it. This cycle is repeated until you successfully socially engineer the society .

But how is this done?

Mythologizing the Past: Power often creates or embellishes a mythical past that portrays their nation or group as superior, heroic, and destined for greatness. This can involve glorifying past leaders, victories, or cultural achievements, while downplaying or erasing historical injustices, defeats, or complexities. This mythologized past serves to create a sense of national pride, unity, and purpose, while justifying the regime's ideology and policies.

Suppressing Alternative Narratives: Discredit alternative historical narratives that challenge their own. They may label dissenting historians or intellectuals as enemies of the state, censor or ban books and other media that offer different perspectives, and use propaganda to discredit opposing viewpoints. By suppressing alternative narratives, they maintain a monopoly on the interpretation of history, reinforcing their power and control.

Control information and education: By manipulating what people learn about the past, they can shape their understanding of the present and their aspirations for the future, ensuring that these align with the regime's agenda.

This concentration of power in the hands of a few, who manipulate historical narratives to justify their actions and suppress dissent, can ultimately lead to what we call fascism.

What is the alternative?

As individuals, what should be our approach toward our past? Our engagement with the past should be selective and focused on specific histories that can justify resistance against any exertion of power over us.  Not all the history is relevant, When engaging with the past, we should prioritize the stories of the marginalized and oppressed over those in power. This selective focus allows us to learn from their struggles, cultivating empathy and informing our actions against present-day injustices. By embracing a narrowly-focused form of history, we can mount an effective counterattack against oppressive forces and work towards a better future.