Update: The author I had quoted asked that I not refer to his work. To accomodate his request, I have rewritten this post. January 6th, 2005

I recently read a piece where the author claimed that knowledge is perishable and as a result it is important to act on intelligence before the value of that knowledge expires.

Think of the relationship between knowledge and intelligence in the following way:

Holding a can of soda in your hand consider the relationship between the bauxite that went into the aluminium, and the aluminium that went into the can.

Now if bauxite is data, aluminium is information, and the can is knowledge: What is the process that made the can?

Intelligence.

Before information turns into knowledge, for a time, it is intelligence. And while it’s intelligence it is terrifically valuable.

So, it seems that gaining intelligence ought to be a major priority. If this is true, then an important question would be – Where does one get intelligence? Of course some comes from understanding the implications of emerging information, but, I’ve been wondering about another source. Continuing with our metaphor: If knowledge is perishable, it eventually becomes garbage. Think recycling. Can knowledge be turned back into intelligence?