Knowledge is power

Power, as Bertrand Russell tells us, is the ultimate end of human activities. Even the humblest man who cannot win power thinks of it in his dreams. The uncultured primitive who indulged in tribal feuds was as much fond of power as the modern, unassuming, polished democrat who talks of peace in the British Parliament. The methods may differ, but the passion for power is fundamentally the same. This power is of two kinds: physical and mental. When a bully throws down a boy in the class, we at once understand what physical power is. But when an engineer tames a stormy river and spans oceans with ships, he shows his mental superiority over the primitive brute who could fight with lions and bears. All the great discoveries and inventions  on which the modern civilization is built, are manifestation of the power of knowledge. The early man worshipped rivers, mountains and other elemental forces of nature. He worshipped them because he was afraid of them. Today we have harnessed these forces to the service of mankind, because knowledge has given us a power unimagined by the primitive man. Rivers irrigate our lands, wind grinds our flour, tidal waves run our electric plants in this way, knowledge has put a power in human hands which is hundredfold greater than physical power.