It is not understanding, enlightenment, critical thought, timeless wisdom, or the content of a well-educated mind. In this context, the sheer quantity of information presents a formidable challenge. The information most crucial to modern organizations is highly time-specific. Data on stock market prices, airline traffic, weather conditions, international economic indicators, military intelligence, and public opinion polls are useful for very short periods of time. Systems that gather, organize, analyze, and use electronic data must be closely tuned to the latest developments.
Information is a perishable commodity.
One begins to wonder how running a home was possible before microelectronics. This attractive idea is highly misleading. Knowledge employed in particular circumstances may well help one act effectively - a citrus farmer's knowledge of frost conditions enables him to fight the harmful effects of cold snaps. But there is no automatic, positive link between knowledge and power, especially power in a social or political sense. At times, knowledge brings merely an enlightened impotence or paralysis.