The conceptual set which is sufficient to enable the construction of a density thermometer constitutes the knowledge appropriate for that exercise. The set of related concepts which are called upon to fabricate an electronic LED flashing unit is the knowledge relevant for that enterprise. The initiation and achievement of any objective, whether it be the creation of an object or any form of social or political manipulation, requires the possession of a minimal set of concepts significant to the exercise. The knowledge of one particular successful fire-making model needed the application of the integrated set of concepts of flint, stone, striking, spark, dry tinder, wood, etc. The knowledge needed for a metal-casting model adequate for the construction of innumerable tools involved the concepts of ore, furnace, fuel, temperature, mold, and so on. A sociological model which incorporated some or all of the concepts of cultural groups, assets, control, religion, war, to name but a few, has formed the knowledge base which has frequently facilitated the expansion of imperialist power.

Knowledge is thus a set of concepts which form the operational reality model of an individual or group and which enables the achievement an existential goal. Theoretical models therefore are not knowledge but are abstract simplified designs for attaining knowledge.

However much it is guided by a model, the knowledge of how to achieve an objective is only acquired by interacting with reality and becoming aware of and dealing with its complications. Literacy and numeracy are kinds of knowledge in the sense that they facilitate the practical objectives of reading and number manipulation. Beyond that most education systems, in focusing on the presentation of theory or cultural agendas and attitudes, do not in fact impart much knowledge. One ventures out into the world for that.

It may be that some of the concepts subsumed as knowledge are no more than beliefs or delusions, yet they may seem to be essential to the set of concepts that facilitate the existential goal. At least one of the functions of science is to examine the elements of what is deemed to be knowledge and verify or not their significance, although there is absolutely no necessity whatsoever for either the concepts or the model to be verbalized or to be communicated as a statement. Suggestions that knowledge is either some kind of annointed state of irrefutable certainty or a box into which cosmic laws are accumulated or a property of some statements having an absolute truth label, or is only to be found in the diverse publications of a deity , are about as relevant as poetry is to the construction of field artillery.

The search for knowledge and understanding by humans has been supposed to be an ideal aspiration for millenia. Whilst knowledge is best thought of as the totality of pragmatic guides to achieving concrete consequences, understanding is a rather more vague and fuzzy awareness of the diverse codes by which life operates. An unexpected consequence of embarking upon a search for understanding however, is that one may actually stumble upon it. There seems always to be a certain happiness to be experienced in the efforts and ingenuities of the search. However if one ever encounters the stark and uncompromising reality of existence, it reveals itself as an abstracted process of being, devoid of any of the decorations and fanciful contrivances of humanity. Aspirations to evaluate life in terms of supposed goods and evils evaporates in irrelevance. Introspective awareness can appreciate the astounding complexities of form in the chaotic universe but that is all.

There is no happiness to be found in understanding.