It used to be that knowledge was reduced to "power". Somehow, access to the means of production, exposure to the behind-the-scenes machinations of social competition, or merely holding the right combination of certificates, could facilitate admission into the halls of recognition and influence.
But our penchant for reductionism has led us now to a full-bore commoditisation of knowledge; knowledge as product, knowledge as commodity. Perhaps the first reductionism has led to the second. People are willing to pay for access to power, and a cottage industry that has developed around it is turning into a factory town.
It may be said that this is not new; the Greek sophists were selling their wares of instruction in the arts - chief among them rhetoric - to the highest bidder. All to satisfy their clients' desire for ascendancy in the senate.
The result, however, is the same, as the sophists held no moral position and taught that an argument could just as easily be made in both directions: for the case in point, and once again, just as easily, for its exact opposite. But even their methods did have some semblance of substantial technique, unlike today's knowledge industry that revolves on surface profitability alone.
The frontline criticism of the sophists came immediately from Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle; and then from an overwhelming majority view that valued knowing in and of itself as the foundation of an enlightened - and thus completed - human person.
The objectives of knowledge are threefold, and they are all intrinsically valuable in and of themselves. The first, erudition, to know things as they truly are, is to know that truth and reality are synonymous. The second objective is certainty; which is the confidence and the coolness of certitude regarding these ultimate truths. In Arabic,. certainty is yaqin, from the word for water when it becomes calm and still. From this comes gnosis, which is an ontological state of intimacy with ultimate realities. Each of these three flows from the one before it. Any levels of knowledge below these three comprise a descending spiral of approximated utilities.
Traditionally, knowledge was valued for its own sake. It was considered an essential pillar of civilisation, not as a utilitarian means to a material end, but as a pre-eminent ontological station. Its value lay not in its refinement of the human person alone, but in its completion of the human soul. The human being at his and her best, if you will.
But schools and universities the world over are all struggling with the ethical dilemma born of the marriage between industry and education.
From pharmaceuticals to financial markets, graduates are rolling off the assembly line tailor-made for the industries that support and dictate the form and structures of the institutions that produced them.
The institution adjusts its curriculum in such a way as to increase the size of its own portfolio with Goldman Sachs, as well as producing the "Quants" that will eventually run strategy for those portfolios. In the situation of western universities it is a mechanistic logic at play, but in the developing world that logic - however sinister - is conspicuously missing.
In a period of human history when we are most in need of securing continuity with our organic human origins, when we are most in need of minds that can innovate compassionate solutions, the knowledge industry is no longer endeavouring to cultivate persons.
Jihad Hashim Brown is director of research at the Tabah Foundation. He delivers the Friday sermon at the Maryam bint Sultan Mosque in Abu Dhabi
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Angelique Kerber (1) v Irina Falconi
Martin Klizan v Novak Djokovic (2)
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Roger Federer (3)
Court One - from 4pm
Milos Raonic (6) v Jan-Lennard Struff
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Evgeniya Rodina
Dominic Thiem (8) v Vasek Pospisil
Court Two - from 2.30pm
Juan Martin Del Potro (29) v Thanasi Kokkinakis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Jelena Jankovic
Jeremy Chardy v Tomas Berdych (11)
Ons Jabeur v Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)
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Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
If you go
The flights
The closest international airport for those travelling from the UAE is Denver, Colorado. British Airways (www.ba.com) flies from the UAE via London from Dh3,700 return, including taxes. From there, transfers can be arranged to the ranch or it’s a seven-hour drive. Alternatively, take an internal flight to the counties of Cody, Casper, or Billings
The stay
Red Reflet offers a series of packages, with prices varying depending on season. All meals and activities are included, with prices starting from US$2,218 (Dh7,150) per person for a minimum stay of three nights, including taxes. For more information, visit red-reflet-ranch.net.
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
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