We have the knowledge to build a better world. But is that enough?

View our Twitter (X) feedView our Youtube channelView our Instagram feedView our Substack feedView our Spotify feed We have the knowledge to build a better world. Our collective knowledge has made us better off, but only when communities and social institutions adapt it for the common good. History and SocietyInnovationAdaptation StrategiesKnowledgeSocial Institutions Adapted from What Happened to Liberal Democracy?

Remaking a Politics of Shared Prosperity by Daron Acemoglu. All rights reserved. _“The grand, leading principle, towards which every argument unfolded in these pages directly converges, is the absolute and essential importance of human development in its richest diversity.”_ — Wilhelm von Humboldt Knowledge, especially when shared and collectively held, is essential to human flourishing — as Humboldt emphasizes in the [quote above], which was relayed by John Stuart Mill in the epigraph to _On Liberty_. Knowledge is not an end in itself.

It is an instrument for achieving society’s diverse objectives. Collective knowledge can enable a society to reach greater material comfort, both by improving its capacity to produce goods and services and by facilitating adaptation to its changing circumstances. Social knowledge is also desirable because it allows the building of better norms and institutions — for more peaceful coexistence of peoples and communities and for ensuring that other types of collective knowledge are put to good use.

It is thanks to our collective knowledge that we are so much healthier than our ancestors. Today, citizens of all Western nations, except the U.S., have a life expectancy at birth of over 80 (compared to less than 30 in Britain in the 19th century). Even on the poorest continent, Africa, the average life expectancy at birth is now 63 years, despite lack of clean water in some places and endemic shortages of health care facilities and hospitals across much of the continent.

This is because scientists and doctors now understand how infectious diseases work. We have access to antibiotics that can prevent deadly infections. We have developed public health methods that produce and distribute vaccinations, offer guidance on avoiding dangerous or unhealthy substances, and ensure sanitary conditions.

The last examples reiterate that by “knowledge” I do not just mean scientific information that can be used for making better tools and products. Understanding that you should wash your hands, or that sewage and drinking water shouldn’t mix, is useful collective knowledge. So is recognizing that people can participate in politics and do not have to be subject to the will of an all-powerful monarch or ironfisted general.