“It took us only 10,000 [years] to make knowing obsolete.” –Sugata Mitra

In the past 10,000 years humans have moved from solely conversing through speech to conversing through writing, and not only to writing, but to having the majority of Western people reading and writing, and not only to the majority of Western people reading and writing, but text is now available digitally and can be accessed from the cloud by virtually everyone, wherever that cloud may be.

For these reasons, having knowledge is no longer as important as knowing how to find it, but this also highlights a great responsibility: If knowledge is available to us, then it is our responsibility to access it, learn from it, and apply it for the benefit of others and us.  James the Apostle says in his Epistle, “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).  If we take this mindset, then we discover four things about knowledge in the 21^st Century that may have missed our notice:

1. Knowledge is more widely available to us unlike any other time

The first thing we notice is knowledge is now available to us unlike any other time in the past.  In the past if you needed a book or video, you had to go to a bookstore, library, or video store, but now you go onto your phone, and Google what you need or go to Amazon or a streaming service.  In the past, if you wanted to learn, you went to college or to a library, but now you go to Google and YouTube.  All we need is now done at the click of a button.

2. Knowledge is cheaper than it has ever been

In addition to knowledge being the most widely available it has ever been, knowledge is now cheaper than it has ever been.  If you go to YouTube or iTunes U, there are entire college courses from universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge available online for free.  Again, that is for free.  Courses range from subjects such as art, history, and philosophy to mathematics, physics, and astronomy.  The list is endless!  Vast amounts of knowledge are now available cheaper than ever before.

3. Knowledge is power

The great philosopher Socrates said, “The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”  The record of knowledge is both good and powerful.  The growth and application of knowledge in the past led to the victorious fight against most deadly diseases that plagued and killed the human race, social justice, and education for the masses, not to mention technology of course.  Knowledge and its application for doing good have certainly made human life easier.

4. Knowledge is necessary for one to be effective and wise

Notice the word application in the above paragraph.  Knowledge by itself is meaningless, but what we can do with it is where it becomes meaningful.  It is the wise who help humans with their knowledge; wisdom is defined as “the application of knowledge.”  While wisdom and knowledge are different, a wise man who adds to his knowledge increases his wisdom as well.

This combination of knowledge being the most widely available it has ever been and at the same time the cheapest it has ever been makes our responsibility to access and apply this knowledge all the more important.

Is it a sin for us to be ignorant because of the availability and inexpensiveness of knowledge?  Now that knowledge is so widely available, how will you get access to what you are interested in knowing more about?  How will you find this knowledge?  What are your action steps?