Idriss Aberkane, a French essayist, is known for his writings and lectures on the knowledge economy and neuroscience. His lasted book “L’age de la connaissance / the age of knowledge “is worth reading. The book seeks to dismiss two contemporary paradigms: “Produce or flourish” and “Nature or employment”.
The key takeaways from his last essay are the following:
- Knowledge is more valuable than natural resources. This statement is clear when looking at the evolution of global companies ranking in the last two decades.
- Fostering a knowledge economy should be the priority of any government: To support his argument, the author frequently uses the example of South Korea who own little natural resources yet is one of major global exporters globally thanks to Korean technological powerhouses. However paradoxical it may appear, South Korea exported 45 Billion USD worth of Processed petroleum oils in 2018 even though the country does not have oil reserves !
- All revolutions / radical innovations go through three stages: They are firstly considered ridiculous, secondly as dangerous and finally obvious. Think of slavery abolition and labor rights for instance.
- Knowledge dynamics follows three principles :
- The exchange of knowledge is positive sum : “When we share a material good we divide it, when we share an intangible good we multiply it”
- The exchange of knowledge is not instantaneous : Unlike physical good, the transfer of knowledge requires more time and energy
- The combination of knowledge is not linear : “The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts”
- Nature as a source of inspiration and one of knowledge economy applications : Nature is the largest deposit of knowledge on earth. The author is a strong supporter of Biomimetics, which is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems in locomotion, construction and architecture, structural materials, optics and agriculture to name a few.
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