What comes to mind when you complete the phrase, \u201cKnowledge is ___________\u201d?<\/p>\n
When I ask this question as part of an exercise in a leadership workshop, the answer that most people share is power<\/em><\/strong>. Though not likely what Francis Bacon intended when he committed the phrase to paper[1]<\/a>, many take \u201cknowledge is power\u201d to mean \u201cthe more knowledge I have (or have access to), the more power and agency I will have.\u201d Knowledge can be a gift offered to the world, a hard-won heroic boon[2]<\/a>. So, in an age of knowledge-sharing, one would think we should enjoy greater agency and a sense of charmed existence because of the free-flowing currents of information all around us. Yet we know this is not the case[3]<\/a>. Not all knowledge is created equal, and the vehicle through which \u201cknowledge\u201d is shared might itself be harmful and negate the benefit of whatever is being shared[4]<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s another word that readily completes the phrase, this one attributed to the ancient king Solomon: Sorrow[5]<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. In the same workshop, people react to that ending of the statement with knowing laughter. They often have experience carrying the burden of sorrowful knowledge and resonate with the idea that blissful ignorance is a real thing. Some share how social media is a knowledge-as-sorrow place for them because of what they discover about the beliefs, postures, and attitudes of those they friend or follow.<\/p>\n The point in the workshop is that knowledge is often both things: power and<\/em> sorrow. Shepherding this tension means giving space for celebration and grief and being wise with what information or knowledge is shared when (and how). Personally engaged leaders understand this relationally: the opportunity to be an agent of healing when invited by someone into their places of brokenness is a real thing, and so is the heartbreak of sitting with someone in that broken space\u2014power and <\/em>sorrow.<\/p>\n In many ways, I feel like the learning through this week\u2019s readings on social media, democracy, and AI are inviting us each into a place of both greater agency and greater sorrow. We are given a window into our own proclivities as well as the power and sorrow others feel in the constant deluge of information, perspectives, and outrage curated for maximum emotional engagement \u2014especially those who have been steeped in technology since birth[6]<\/a>. As the father of two adolescents, I\u2019m once again eying their devices\u2014affirmed in some of my wife\u2019s and my parenting choices often decried as \u201cridiculous,\u201d \u201cmean,\u201d \u201ctorture,\u201d or otherwise met with a facial expression that makes me wonder if we\u2019re all going to make it to the college years without the help of day drinking.<\/p>\n Yet, while my children don\u2019t have social media accounts, they do have phones\u2014something that until a little while ago seemed like a necessary risk in our household with two parents in different professions often running in different directions after two kids navigating long bus rides, sports pick-ups, band rehearsals, choir practices, and babysitting gigs. I\u2019m sitting with the questions: What does wisdom look like here?<\/em> How do we protect and position our kids in the best ways possible for genuine, healthy community?<\/em>[7]<\/a><\/p>\n There is application in my leadership context where the same questions must be asked regarding those I\u2019m entrusted with. Cultivating unity in diversity amid raging social conflict has always been a task requiring the presence of Christ himself[8]<\/a>, yet these days, doing so seems much more challenging than ever. We have built and integrated technological and social systems designed for advancing performance over connection and extremism over mutual submission[9]<\/a>. In many ways, (social) media appear to have become the primary disciplers in the lives of Christians. How do I most effectively disciple the Christians in my care in the way of Jesus\u2014the way that invites and requires living counter to the empire-advancing and division-infused culture of our day? This is certainly not a new question, but it is one that has increasing urgency and deepening consequences.<\/p>\n Much of this\u2014our division, extremism, and inability to see or hear each other\u2014seem like places of spiritual strongholds or a new kind of warfare. This isn\u2019t to say we should be Luddites or add to the social media miasma by being against<\/em> yet another thing; instead, I wonder what it looks like to take a posture of being for <\/em>our neighbor and their flourishing in this context. My hope is that the people of Jesus will take seriously the invitation and empowerment to abide in a new and living way. After all, \u201c\u2026 though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.\u00a0The weapons we fight with\u00a0are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power\u00a0to demolish strongholds\u201d (2 Cor 10:3-4, NIV).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> \u201cScientia Potentia Est.\u201d Wikipedia, January 2, 2025. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scientia_potentia_est<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/em>. Third edition. Novato, CA: New World Library, 2008.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Haidt, Jonathan and Tobias Rose-Stockwell. \u201cThe Dark Psychology of Social Networks: Why it feels like everything is going haywire,\u201d The Atlantic, <\/em>December 2019, https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2019\/12\/social-media-democracy\/600763\/<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Smyth, Nicholas. \u201cSmash the Technopoly!\u201d After Babel, December 19, 2024, https:\/\/www.afterbabel.com\/p\/smash-the-technopoly.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Cf. Ecclesiastes 1:18<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Haidt, Jonathan and Eric Schmidt. \u201cAI Is About to Make Social Media Much More Toxicm\u201d The Atlantic<\/em>, May 5, 2023, https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2023\/05\/generative-ai-social-media-integration-dangers-disinformation-addiction\/673940\/<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Smyth, Nicholas. \u201cSmash the Technopoly!\u201d<\/p>\n