"Information is wielded as power by lesser mortals trying to assert themselves as greater than those that actually are."
Disagree if you must but that is the truth. Those using information assymetry to their advantage are simply afraid and know they are inept at being competitive in a fair contest. They will do everything they can to ensure that there never exists a state of transparency and create a situation where one person knows more than the other, the one person being them of course! Oh, and if you meet someone along the way who will use the phrase 'INFORMATION IS POWER' to justify whatever it is they are doing, please slap the impotent fool for me...or send them a link to this post.
Thank you for your time...
19 comments:
my god, someone pissed u off bad eh?
u r right though - its a shoddy excuse for not helping ppl - as has been said ad nauseum - "kar bhala to ho bahla!"
no, no one pissed me off...just an observation from someone else's post.
Two points arise -
1. If you've managed to lay your hands on something that others have been either too slow or too unfortunate to, you're at an advantage, right?
2. Why should you not use an advantage to your advantage?
And by virtue of the fact that you can use it to your advantage, it makes you relatively superior, right. Information is a powerful powerful weapon. And not often it is, that it is acquired by luck or chance.
Its a rat race, at the end of the day.
what stops the holders of information from dissipating it to others around them? what you make of the information is your prerogative and by all means, your own to use for it is a manifestation of your intelligence...intelligence you may choose to use to your own advantage but i have my own reservations about using information to gain advantage...
weilding information asymmetry as power is cowardice...
and in any which way, what makes you think i'm in a rat race? and do we have to be a part of it? well, a matter of choice i guess...and mine are in line of my persona - eccentric.
ur latest post doesnt have a "post a comment" link...on purpose?
hmm... i think one might substitute the slang "dirt" for the very generic "information" to create the desired effect perhaps...
your quote of wisodm seems too extreme... as an ex-debator and a current lawyer, information was and is indeed power to me. true you've tried, in a comment reply to psy's comment, to say that using information freely available to your advantage may be a manifestation of one's intelligence, but your post incriminates all who may say that information is power. that would include me in several contexts (except when it comes to digging up dirt on people and creating non-trnsparent situations, which is not my style).
i find it a little difficult to digest that any little power i may have wielded over others during my debating days due to any information that i may have possessed at the time makes either me a lesser mortal, or them any greater that they might have been, bro :) of course, you have known me for sometime, and i would like your feedback on that...
lastly, i'm assuming by the word 'impotent' you simply meant 'powerless in fact'.
hmmmm...information is power to you when it is freely available and you have been able to put the information to use, by way of intelligent thought...or when you have taken pains to actually dig up information on your own course in which case, it isnt information but a manifestation of your intelligence.
my criticism remains for mortals who create a situation where there is an asymmetry of information and withold it justifying it with the tagline "Information is Power." hiding information or making it inaccessible is cowardice...
i agree, my statement is extreme and subject to interpretation...i have been less than verbose in my explanation, i apologise...but i didnt think such a degree of explanation would be desired. i am glad it did...i seem to have a very intelligent audience in which case, this piece of wisodm was more than unnecessary!
why would anyone "dissipate" information to others around them. There'll be no fluctuations in prices then. No profits or losses. A perfect world. That does not and cannot exist in this race for survival.
sometimes information is not generally available as well, and may come into your possession by some freak chance. Are we unjustified in holding onto such an opportunity and using it to our advantage when the time is ripe?
let me also play the devil's advocate here. being a sneaky lil bas**** is a skill which few may master. most are caught in the act and then become the subject of riducule themselves, with all subsequent snippets of information from them being usually (and hopefully) disregarded (the story of the boy who cried "wolf" comes to mind here). but for a true practicer of the arts of deception and manipulation, is it such a bad thing to create situations, extract information, and use it to secure every advantage that one may require (or desire)? if one is not naturally blessed with skills that might make him superior in a level playing field, why not play dirty to be ahead in the game?
even the Joker (Heath Ledger RIP), the self-proclaimed agent of chaos ("and you know the thing about chaos... it's fair..."), a man who preferred sticks of dynamite and knives to a mountain of money, played it dirty most of the way...
Let me just say that if I were to slap every "impotent" fool for withholding information then well my policy of non-violence would throw itself out of the window.
And well let me put my two cents worth in, I agree with the statement to a a certain extent only, its a cruel world at the end of the day and information has to be used as power if you want to get an upper edge.
Unfortunately you end up bitching about the situation when you have been deprived of the "information".
I have stirred up a hornets nest!
hmmmm...i'm proud of myself!
@Bikram:> information that has trickled to you, is upto you to withold or disperse...but would you pride yourself in gaining the upper hand by way of the info that has come to you by chance? aren't you better than that? if i were not good enough to be at an advantage by way of intellect, if i shared my information freely, i might not be the one farthest ahead, but i'd be farther than myself if i choose to take advantage of it alone...wo kehte hain na, 'gyan baatne se badhta hai!'
i know the argument is idealistic but is one that considers a macro view and not just an individual perspective...after all, playing dirty sooner or later ensures you despise your own stench!
@kriti:> the world is a cruel place if you let it be...it's a matter of principles...choose yours...
hmm... your view throws several epithets into a tizzy.. lemme see, all those variations on opportunity knocking on your door, luck favours the vigilant, blah blah... all that stuff seems to say that one must not hesitate from taking advantage of chance, even if that means that you act on inputs unknown to others... admittedly, i don't like to be subversive, and i wouldn't advocate it, but then again, i prefer having the upper hand to being crushed by lesser entities (being taken down by a superior is almost a pleasure)... if you're caught in a deluge of dirt, perhaps a logical choice would be to scoop some of it up and throw it back before you are buried in it...
nah...you can choose to step out of the dirt too...something that most seem hesitant to do...
choose to step out, brother? quitting is one way out, a change of scene and blah... but i'm guessing you weren't going for that.. any other strategies of stepping out? don't forget, many a times the dirt's just thrown at you cuz you're doing your job and doing it right! if you're insignificant, the rabble might not bother with you... if you're good at what you do, but are being discredited by propaganda, and it's even beginning to affect your prospects at work say, what would you do to deal with it?
not talking about giving up but fighting fair without the slugfest...you know we both are good enough to fight without any unfair means, or are you unsure about yourself?
ah...bikram...are we to be two immortals locked in an epic battle until judgment day and trumpets sound?
or you could give up?
:P
hmm..you seem to be talking in 'in-the-long-run' language... that contradicts your earlier pearl of wisdmo about living every minute.. no long runs there...
usually, the only time fighting fair can ever conceivably yield even a mildy desirable result would be in the long run, if the dirtbags are doing their bit to pull you down with info... the veracity of bitching is seldom questioned, it seems rather natural for most people to accept negativity in others, even though it may only be contained in propaganda spread by certain cretins. simply put, if someone spreads crap about you, people are likely to believe it without question, and the truth can only emerge, if it ever does, in the long run... that's too long to wait for if you live every minute.. many a times, it comes out too late to be of any functionaly value...
(oh and, me? give up?? in a debate??? game on, brother :)
hmmm...i do not recall having said living for the minute but i think as you have said, living every minute...i don't see how that is conflicting with a long-run-perspective...you can have the long-term in your mind and still live every minute...
and the only time you don't live every minute is when you stop believing in the truth...
you can't help the bitching part, it's a part and parcel of the social structure these here days it would seem, the question remains, do you wanna swim in the same mirth?
(and we are to be two mortals locked in an epic battle till judgement day!!!)
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