Is Knowledge Important ?

January 5, 2026January 5, 2026 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

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“ The knowledge economy, or knowledge-based economy, is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is primarily driven by knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to the advancement of technical and scientific innovation. The key element of value in this paradigm lies in the increased reliance on human capital and intellectual property as primary sources of innovative ideas, information, and practices. Organizations are called upon to leverage this “knowledge” in their production processes to stimulate and consolidate their business development. This approach is characterized by reduced dependence on physical inputs and natural resources. A knowledge-based economy is founded on the crucial role of intangible assets within organisations as an enabler of modern economic growth.”

Excerpted from Wikipedia

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There are various schools of thought which suggest that in modern times knowledge is a key factor in economic success. That knowledge must be commercially exploitable and can include skills and artisanal know-how. As recent world events suggest, access to natural resources remains of high geo-political importance. Venezuelan oil being an obvious marker.

In my view this schematic is a tad idealistic, it does not mention socio-political barriers and vested interests. One might say that recent changes in US policy have moved away from the notion of a knowledge economy back towards gun boat aircraft carrier diplomacy.

Just like AI has been shown to hallucinate it is a moot point as to whether the so-called AI investment boom is also a group or herd like hallucination among humans. FOMO investments can have bubble-bursts.

The knowledge which has pecuniary value relates only to profit. There is little attention paid to altruistic knowledge. To live only for profit and gain is unbalanced. In the eyes of some there may be more to life and living than that. Not everyone agrees.

One could argue that I am an example of how the so-called knowledge economy failed to make use of a resource. It failed. I failed. Either way I am now retired and doing gardening and DIY.

“You lose what you do not use.”

Is an axiom which has perhaps wide applicability. Knowledge which is not applied and practised can no longer be recalled. The edge of its blade becomes blunted by rust. Slowly like an untended path in the woods it becomes overgrown, deserted and before long nobody remembers that it is there or ever was there. As an older person I have seen how scientific knowledge from many decades ago has to be reinvented because people cannot find it so easily in online search engines. Because search engines are now biased to the fee paying advertiser, much knowledge is now lost in far flung unvisited corners of the internet, there to gather spiders and webs.

It is reasonable to assume that whatever knowledge I may have will die with me. That may not be a great loss but it is an example, of how people may talk a good game. But when push comes to shove knowledge is rarely as important as self-promotion. There is nobody queuing up to learn from me. And by now I am too hermit-like to converse.

There is a danger that human evolution, despite all the advances in technology, is taking a backward step towards a new dark age. An age where image and sound-byte becomes a new Goebbels-reality. An age where short snappy mind numbing mantra replace thought and consideration. An age in which metrics and graphs bury substance and worth in cold clammy tombs. Bullet point thinking is not knowledge and not wisdom.

I think popularity and fame have removed knowledge and wisdom from the mantelpiece above our hearths. Shiny, flashy and chav dominate; viral despite COVID remains a term indicative of success.

It may seem strange but I think that the pool of available knowledge is actually shrinking, it is becoming more standardised and subject to peer approval. Loss of diversity is generally bad for ecosystem; it is an indicator of environmental decline.

I think that genuine knowledge is becoming much less important than claimed or asserted knowledge. The tendency is away from the unfathomable and profound towards the safety of the shallows and the common. I suspect that reputation has become more important than knowledge.

Once diversity has been lost it is very hard to replace. Same is not often best. Clone-think tends to be counter-evolutionary.

Once knowledge has been lost it is not easily restored. Value for money seems to be the main arbiter of which knowledge survives and is nurtured. There is a very short term outlook.

Sometimes we are so stubborn, adamant and omniscient that we can only learn through loss.

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“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”

Native American Proverb

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Accreditation Problems – Dream Follow Up

November 16, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

In a previous life, well a part of this one actually, I worked in the UK university sector. A part of my job was to do with course quality and I sat on a number of fairly soporific committees in which syllabuses were given the OK. I entertained the external examiners and oversaw the award of degree in one year. I even signed it off for around 100 students. Universities do quality control on the degree courses of other universities. The “elite” accredit each other. It is my opinion that the quality and difficulty of degrees in UK Chemistry is subject to some variance. The exam papers at Oxford are peculiarly hard and esoteric in physical chemistry, I doubt students entering a course not requiring good maths would have a chance. Like all things once an exam is sat and a qualification gained, about 90% of it is forgotten. I learned more chemistry teaching “A” level as a private tutor than I did in my degree. It stuck better for having to explain.

Who accredits the new age teacher?

Who accredits a guru?

I do not know if there is any agreed syllabus and who hands out the certificate of enlightenment?

If one was trying to approach a new age bookseller or publisher it might help the marketability to have an endorsement from some establishment figure. Maybe a recommendation from Thurman or Gere would help sales. Without some provenance it would be a hard sell.

In the blog there is various dreaming “evidence” for some prior incarnations which would not be accepted as proof in a court of law. Within that context the “fact” that I can remember at all might suggest some experience in at death mind transference. We could extrapolate that I might know how to do this. I do not mix in the circles where I could be accredited by some authority figure or other.

We get a chicken or egg situation. I could not get an audience to teach dream yoga to until I had an audience / client list willing to testify positively. It could only be by “Trustpilot” like reviews that I could develop any credibility. Nobody would know for sure that I did not make these up myself.

How would one start?

How would one ensure good quality control?

How would one police appropriate behaviour?

How could one get insurance in case people went stark raving mad?

From my prior background there are quite a few questions. There are clear problems with accreditation and there are no results league tables. Which has more enlightened graduates, Zen, Theravada or Mahayana? What about the casualty rate in Vajrayana?

Buddhism is established and has a long track record.

Viewed from a perspective of Higher Education the entire new age sector looks poorly organised and a bit flaky. Maybe Trump should charge a tariff on the sales of Snake Oil?

I have met a number of so-called Lucid dreamers and they have used a bizarre expression “dream teacher”. That made me question their clarity / sanity. A lot try to draw from dream psychology and blend this hybrid with new age-y / dream yoga type jargon. Some weird kind of hotch-potch with pseudo-scientific credibility as an add on.

There are real problems with accreditation and by inference quality control. Anybody, perhaps including me, could set themselves up on a soap box.

Unemployable

November 14, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

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“lacking the skills, abilities, or qualities that are necessary for becoming or remaining employed”

“someone who is unemployable does not have the qualifications or skills needed to do any kind of job”

“lacking the skills, abilities, or qualities that are necessary to get or keep a job : not employable”

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Above are three English language dictionary definitions of the word unemployable.

In principle I have a last century bachelor’s qualification in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics. If I am to believe the pieces of paper in my folder. My technical experience is twenty years out of date. My language skills in France pretty much preclude.

Because of the modern approaches to employment where there are check lists, grids, criteria and most often a requirement for referees, even though I may have residual skills, I am unemployable. The chances of me getting an interview for just about any job are very close to zero. Using the definitions above I probably do not have the skills to remain employed or keep a job. Sooner or later I will offend some ego or other.

It is kind of amusing to me that the chances of me getting venture start-up funding to the tune of hundreds of thousands of Euros are small yet significantly higher than me getting a “proper job”.

Believe me I have done hundreds of experiments…

There is no way any company or institution with a human resources department could approve of hiring someone like me. I have zero track record aside from private tutoring for the past two decades. I stopped that end of 2017. OK, I wrote a hobby patent application. I doubt that cuts the mustard.

Someone would have to be in a really dire shit hole with zero options…

As part of the down sizing thought line I estimate that I could build up a small “A” level science tutoring clientele in the UK. Though the on-line fee-taking agencies are more strict on background checks these days, some want guarantors and referees. I would not appear on a UK criminal background check these days which might look odd. Where have I been? In a Thai prison with Gary Glitter?

I could make a web site and offer my services without a middle-person-thing {pick your woke expression of choice}. I might be difficult to insure. It could be a slow starter.

Watching “Killing Eve” the British Security services are portrayed as comedy ramshackle, maybe they are in need…

On one level and in some people’s eyes, perhaps it ought not to be like this. But it is. No matter my tangential associations in the past they are timed out and essentially irrelevant. Besides I have lived hermit like for way too long now. I could not hack being around people.

This reality might not be easy to accept. It is easy for me because it is actually real.

I wonder what bizarre dreams might arrive during the night….

Anthropology Research – Non Starter?

June 20, 2025 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Following on from a thread raised by yesterday’s dream I have been looking at the theme of Anthropology. Carlos Castaneda was awarded a Ph.D. at University of California Los Angeles in Anthropology. If I understand it correctly viewing his thesis requires and in-person visit. {I have checked.}

A while back I applied for a Ph.D. position in Branching Space-Time as per Belnap at a Dutch university. I was genuine in that application; I would have enjoyed it but was not eligible for funding as I already had a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics. Another philosophy academic who was looking into quantum told me that I was not a trained “philosopher” and he wanted such. I doubt he had ever played with high resolution or ultrafast lasers. He had no personal hands on experience of quantum effects.

I found today that at Social Anthropology Cambridge University a Tibetan Buddhist monk got a Ph.D. there.

Applicants for Ph.D. research are encouraged to approach staff members to elicit supervision and then to make a formal application. I suspect that an application from me would be non-standard. It might raise an eyebrow or two. It would probably cause social discomfort.

Unfortunately my university personal tutor is now dead and I have not spoken with my Ph.D. supervisor in over two decades. So I do not meet the referee criteria outlined on the university web site:

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Academic referees

An academic referee will be someone who has guided and assessed your academic work.

For example:

your personal tutor
your tutor for a dissertation, extended essay or piece of project work
the teaching lead on a module of particular relevance to your proposed postgraduate course
your tutor from an academic internship at your current or another institution

At least one of your academic references should be a tutor or supervisor from your current or most recent degree course. If you have just started a one-year Master’s course and staff do not know your work well yet, you may prefer to choose a referee from your previous degree course.

PhD students should not be nominated as referees. If you have been taught by a PhD student and they know your work well, you can encourage your referee to talk to them.

Your referee will not normally be your proposed Cambridge supervisor unless they fulfil the requirements above and no others are available.

Professional referees

A professional referee will normally be someone who has had responsibility for your appraisal and delivery of work.

For example:

your current or previous line manager
a senior colleague who knows your work well, such as a director
a project manager for a project on which you’ve worked

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There is a part of me tempted to open up a dialogue. It could be fun but probably predictable in outcome. Rules are rules after all.

Maybe I should approach the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford or look at the Open University. Is there a French equivalent?

Access beyond pay wall for journals could be handy…

A journal recently wanted to charge me $40 dollars for an article I wrote…

It is only a couple of pages long…

If operated on I am going to have few months out of the garden…

Life Divergences and the Wrong End of the Stick

October 13, 2024October 14, 2024 ~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

I have recently had a several months stint on LinkedIn. Because I am an “old fart” I went to university way back when it was much less common in the UK. My class size was of the order of 30. It was hard to get in. There was an in-department tea / snack room which served buttered toast. After a 9 AM chemistry lecture you could get coffee and toast and marmalade. We knew each other quite well and there was a lot of fraternisation between staff and students. Back then there was a lot of booze. It would be frowned upon today, Jurassic behaviours.

It is safe to conclude that when taking the integral of life time earnings of most of my university peer group, based on their LinkedIn profiles, I am at the bottom of the earnings table and I am not going to earn any more. I was the baby of the class being born end of August, but somehow also a social lynch pin. 4 out of 30 came from my school. Most of my peers have been successful whereas my “career” ended in 2007. I did some small “A” level science tutoring for a number of years. I retired around five years ago. Often it is the years 40-65 when people earn the most. I did not.

It could be said that I am a failure and that I failed.

I worked for over a decade as an academic at a top London university. Many of that peer group and people whom I once taught have had and are having way more success than me. There are big cheeses.

There are a number of possible explanations for why I quit at the age of 42. They include burn out, the so-called INFJ door slam, some mental health problems, or the renunciation of a way of life. I was very unhappy that my colleagues were talking about getting rid of people to improve the REF rating. Nice! I figured I could handle going better than others. The decision was quick and nobody anticipated it. I don’t recall having any discussions. I did not have a leaving party because I hate that kind of thing. I handed over my responsibilities and just left. Not many, very few, said goodbye. I thought at the time that it was handled poorly. British people can be awkward and scientists are not renowned for their interpersonal skills. I don’t believe anyone from there addressed the subject with me, certainly not meaningfully.

I was not anticipating what was to unfold in terms of meditations and chanting. My life certainly diverged from where it had been heading. There were consequences which I had not anticipated in terms of my employability.

If you meditate at least once daily for two decades you are likely to differ markedly in terms of psyche and mind from those who do not. If you don’t see someone for over a decade they may try to shoehorn their perception of you into their old version. They may be unable to conceive of what you are like now. They will not know “the point before mind”.

I have no ambition, no drive, no goals, no targets. I am not overly fussed about what happens to me. I am not interested in kudos. There is no driver for me to invent. I doubt that anything I might write is sellable, certainly not profitable. So, there is no point in me trying to publish for money. In one sense I am waiting until my time is up. The likelihood is that my time will be used gardening, doing DIY, strolling and a bit of blogging here and there. I will be a carer from time to time.

I am out of touch with the modern way of life. I have not made a social ‘phone call in near a decade. I have near zero social email use. Just as I am out of touch with modern life, the outer world is out of touch with me. Only a few people know any of my email addresses and only one person has my ‘phone number. The hospital has it too.

Life is uncomplicated by connectivity.

When you watch the news, it is often a loner who is not popular who turns out to be the perpetrator of some killing or other. People are prejudiced about people like me. They may even pity me and feel sad. That is getting the wrong end of the stick by a country mile. People transfer their obsession with social contact onto me. I am quite happy not to have any. I can go days without speaking to anyone.

I certainly did not add a great deal to UK plc. I once co-founded a company which put dinner on the table for about fifty households. In principle I could have done more. But I did not.

It could be said that I was perhaps fated to do a “Reggie Perrin” only I never came back to work.

I do not know what fate has in store for me, if anything. It is very unlikely to have a wider impact or significance. This could be argued to be a waste. Or simply it is what it is.

Being a four cancer couple already sets us apart statistically. Colon cancer and basal cell carcinomas for me, myeloma and breast for her. She start posts operative radiotherapy next week. I get a “chimney sweep” colonoscopy next year. I am on prostate cancer watch because of slightly elevated PSA. No signs of any lesions in the MRI.

It is pretty clear what the next month is about. The important bit, that is.

I speculate that were I to meet any of the people from my peer groupings it would take quite a while for the penny to drop concerning just how far my life and beingness has diverged from theirs. And they would almost certainly get entirely the wrong end of the stick in any attempt at communication beyond the basic CV style “life fact” exchange. I’ll wager I could understand their lives better than they could understand mine. I came from “there”. I do not think that they could get it nor do I believe that I could convey. They would have to experience over a fair time interval to even begin.

I could be wrong…

I am divergent…