The Importance of Knowledge

A large industrial factory suddenly shut down. The engineers tried to restart it but were unsuccessful. Finally, a renowned expert was called in. He arrived, examined the factory, and inspected its machines. Then he paused at one point and requested a hammer. When the hammer was brought, he struck once at a specific spot. Immediately, the machine started up, and the factory was operational again. Later, the expert sent a bill for one hundred pounds. The factory manager thought the amount was excessive. He wrote to the expert: “You hardly did anything. You only struck once with a hammer. We cannot understand how you can charge one hundred pounds for that. Please furnish my client with further and better particulars.” In his reply, the expert explained that the bill was fully justified. He said that the one shilling was for using the hammer to strike the correct spot, and the remainder was for identifying the fault and pinpointing its exact location. In his words: “£99.19 to diagnose the problem, and one shilling to pick up the hammer and strike the right spot.” In this world, the highest value belongs to knowledge. Out of a hundred, if one part is the value of labor, ninety-nine parts must be counted as the value of knowledge.