Knowledge is our most important business. The success of almost all
our other business depends on it, but its value is not only economic. 3 The
pursuit, production, spread, application, and preservation of knowledge are
the central activities of a civilization. Knowledge is social memory, a
connection to the past; and it is social hope, an investment in the future.
5 The ability to create knowledge and put use to it is the key characteristic of
humans. It is how we reproduce ourselves as social beings and how we
change — how we keep our feet on the ground and our heads in the clouds.