scientia potentia est

 
“Scientia Potentia Est”
 scientia - science - knowing, to discern 
 potentia - potent - powerful physically 
 potentia - potis - able 

“Scientia Potentia Est” - knowing is power
“Scientia Potentia Est” - knowedge is power 

(Netflix streaming show, The Crown, first season, episode 7, “Scientia Potentia Est”)
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“Scientia Potentia Est”
    better interpreted as, a bit long:   
      there are aspects to knowledge and knowing that enable; 
      there are aspects to knowledge and knowing that somewhat enable; 
      there are aspects to knowledge and knowing that disable; 
      there are aspects to knowledge and knowing that somewhat disable; 
      there are aspects to knowledge and knowing that both enable and disable; 
      there are aspects to knowledge and knowing that neither enable or  disable; 

   Marcel Proust:
      Each reader reads only what is already inside himself.
      A book is only a sort of optical instrument which the writer offers 
      to let the reader discover for himself what he would not have found 
      without the aid of the book. 
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Ranjana Srivastava, A cancer companion : an oncologist's advice on diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, 2014

p.265
   For some people, knowledge is indeed power but for others it creates anxiety and a sense of helplessness. 

   (A cancer companion : an oncologist's advice on diagnosis, treatment, and recovery / Ranjana Srivastava., 1. cancer──patients., 2. cancer──diagnosis., 3. cancer──treatment., RC263.S67  2015, 616.99'4──dc23, 2014, )
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Ha-Joon Chang, Economics : the user's guide, 2014

first published 2014
this paperback edition published 2015 

p.16
Economics is the study of rational human choice ... 

p.16
†  The Nobel Prize in Economics is not a real Nobel prize.  Unlike the original Nobel Prizes (Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Medicine, Literature and Peace), established by the Swedish industrialist Afred Nobel at the end of the 19th century, the economic prize was established by the Swedish central bank (Sveriges Riksbank) in 1968 and is thus officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. 

p.17
Economics is a study of rational choice, that is, choice made on the basis of deliberate, systematic calculation of the maximum extent to which the ends can be met by using the inevitably scarce means. 

p.153
Sometimes in the 1930s,
the office of the Gosplan, the central planning authority of the USSR
Interview for the post of the chief statistician

The first candidate is asked by the interview board, ‘What is 2 + 2, comrade?’
He answers: ‘5’. 
‘Comrade, we very much appreciate your revolutionary enthusiasm, but this job needs someone who can count.’  The first candidate is politely dismissed. 

The second candidate was asked, ‘Comrade, What is 2 + 2?’
He answer: ‘3’. 
‘Arrest that man! We cannot tolerate this kind of counter-revolutionary propaganda, under-reporting our achievements!’  The second candidate is dragged out of the room by the guards. 

The third candidate was asked the same question, ‘Comrade, What is 2 + 2?’
He answer: ‘Of course, it is 4’. 
A member of the board gives him a lecture on the limitation of bourgeois science, fixated on formal logic.  The third candidate is politely dismissed. 

The fourth candidate was asked the same question, ‘Comrade, What is 2 + 2?’
He answer: ‘How many do you want it to be?’
The fourth candidate is hired. 

Ha-Joon Chang, Economics : the user's guide, 2014
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     [       To cite http://en.wikipedia.com, subject line Anthony_Stafford_Beer, access date (???), “According to the cybernetician the purpose of a system is what it does (POSIWID). This is a basic dictum. It stands for bald fact, which makes a better starting point in seeking understanding than the familiar attributions of good intention, prejudices about expectations, moral judgment or sheer ignorance of circumstances.  POSIWID (the purpose of a system is what it does), to refer to the commonly observed phenomenon that the de facto purpose of a system is often at odds with its official purpose.”]
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