Page 167 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

986 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Information is religion’s greatest enemy, and in an age when information is just a few
keyboard strokes away from anyone with a computer, this is going to pose a greater
threat to Christianity than anything it has yet ‘survived.’ • Farrell Till (b.1933)

division of labor is to a large extent derived from the divi- knowledge such as “where do I hire a pipe fitter,” “what
sion of knowledge. This essay will focus on that part of is the price of bread,” or “how do I purchase the stock of
knowledge that is necessary for economic activities. Microsoft,” the sphere of production contains mostly
There are many ways to cut and classify the kinds of statements about the physical and biological environ-
information people need to possess and exchange. One ments in which people operate.
appealing way is to divide the information up into those Technology concerns the latter sphere: It consists of
parts that deal with social matters and human affairs and information that regards natural phenomena and the
those that concern the external environment. These rules and regularities we can formulate about them. It
roughly correspond to the spheres of exchange and pro- includes statements like “the Mississippi flows from
duction.While the sphere of exchange contains allocative north to south” and “it snows in the winter in Michigan”

Roman wax writing tablets found near Hadrian's Wall in England.