Knowledge has always been important, of course. The ancient Egyptians did not raise the stones for the pyramids relying on the incantations of their gods. The waters in the irrigation canals of the great Indus Civilisation did not flow according to the laws of ignorance. Knowledge has always been power and wealth.
Mahathir Mohamad: a visionary & his vision of Malaysia's k-economy (ed. Pelanduk Pubns Sdn Bhd, 2002)