The definition of knowledge, understanding of or information about a subject that you get by experience or study, may look like a positive aspect. As we are all human, we have the desire to learn more, know more, and consume every information that we encounter, even though we may not want to know it. We are all hungry for knowledge, from the Neanderthals to modern people. There is no part in history that we stop being so interested in knowledge, Phythagoras never had a single thought about stopping when he was discovering the right angular triangle rule, and Einstein never had a worry while he was trying to find how to release the energy of an atom. When we look at our past, not every knowledge was actually used for the right causes. As we mentioned Einstein, it is common knowledge that he had a part in the invention of nuclear bombs, with his works on nuclear energy and the popular E=mc^2 formula. Considering nuclear bombs caused thousands of Japanese people’s lives at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the outcome of his works was not as positive as we all agree. Even though we use nuclear energy as a less wasteful energy resource now, is it worth losing all these innocent lives? Is it worth to know the E=mc^2? Is it really worth to “know” for the greater good, with a possible probability of sacrifices?
Although knowledge may be the way for us to keep our lives going, it is the knowledge we consume that builds our lives. The more you know the more to think and question about. The more you question, the more you find. And sometimes, the things you find may not be so… expected. As the saying, curiosity kills the cat, curiosity really can lead you to die. According to the report of the organization RSF (Reporters Without Borders), 45 journalists were killed, 84 missing, 54 of them were held hostage, and 521 journalists were detained (mostly unreasoned). As the main purpose of journalism is to gather fresh information about any kind of news, in the end, the knowledge you have can get you killed. Also, aside from the risk of knowing the knowledge, the usage of knowledge plays an important part. The knowledge that falls into the wrong hands may cause devastating consequences.
On the other hand, the knowledge is the way the life goes on. The development of society from the beginning to today’s world could not be made without “knowledge”. The knowledge of becoming a modern-day society, knowledge of freedom and rights, knowledge of equality, knowledge of intellectualism, and the knowledge of self-developing humanity. We do have this luxurious life compared to 400 years ago because we know how to improve, think about where would we be if we hadn’t had that hunger of curiosity in us? What if we don’t know how to make tall buildings, how to produce oil for the cars we use every day, how to use WWW or imagine not knowing how to write, and even not having a clue about how to light a fire. It sounds horrible, right? Even the most basic things we have come from our past knowledge, if we weren’t that curious to think about how lightning from the sky starts a blaze, would it be better? As I said, the knowledge of course has, had and will have some cons with the pros it comes. The sacrifices will always be made for the greater good, even though it may sound too much (and it may be sometimes too much to handle). But, can we even stop it? One of the most primal feelings of the homo sapiens, curiosity is unstoppable. People will always find something new, something to think about, something to work on, something to use, something to develop…
In conclusion, even though we can’t prevent the indescribable desire to learn new things, we can change its way into something more useful, like improvement. Yes, it comes with its negatives but, our main focus should be on how to minimize them and work on the positive effects. The knowledge may be dangerous when it gets in the wrong hands, it can even cost the lives of innocents. Despite that, there is always a way to turn it into positive from negative, it depends on who uses it and what the purpose it is used on. In the end, we can say that it is not the knowledge that makes it powerful or not, it is the purpose that makes it worthy.
