Tacit knowledge. The value of simply knowing things. This is why spies and witnesses are so valued and protected.
Tacit knowledge is the most significant and widespread form of knowledge
Since it cannot be easily transferred via texts, tacit knowledge must be taught via direct practice and extensive interaction with a skilled practitioner.
In 2013, Jeff Bezos recovered two Apollo 11 rockets from the bottom of the ocean. Do you believe that he donated them to the Smithsonian without having the team at Blue Origin, his aerospace company, reverse-engineer them first? It seems unlikely.
The next large chunk of intellectual dark matter is proprietary knowledge. The use and spread of such knowledge are restricted by an institution guarding its monopoly.
By making a subject appear much more intellectually demanding than it actually is, you discourage people from attempting to learn or compete with you. The pretense of intellectual rigor allows you to overstate proprietary knowledge and thereby further increase your authority or extend it to domains beyond your expertise. The overuse of mathematics in economics is a good example of this.
Tacit knowledge. The value of simply knowing things. This is why spies and witnesses are so valued and protected.
Excellent article! @SamoBurja