Vena turns in her chair to regard Pilbox with interest, then she inclines her head with a smile. "Well said. I applaud a keen mind, and especially an eloquent one."
"And what about those who kill others with dangerous knowledge? And trust me, there is more than enough people who will use knowledge to hurt. Whether knowledge as simple as physics to build ever more deadly weapons of war or chemistry to brew poisons - or knowledge as esoteric as the Correspondence or the designs of the Liberation of Night, and I am sure our American friend here can attest to the dangers of these otherworldly pieces of lore."
She twirls a lock of hair playfully around her finger, her voice a velvety purr. "As to the former point I have to disagree. While it serves as a good rule of thumb, the world is far to complex for such simple rules to cover all events. What if you have to send this secret to someone far from you? What if you want to preserve it for subsequent generations? What if you knew that you might not be able to remember, such as if prior to exposure to irrigo? - Never mind the fact that with Red Honey and Fingerkings in this stygian realm even secrets inside your mind might not be safe."
"That said, you do make an excellent point about how to control knowledge. Teaching, motivations, and belief are powerful things, and you are absolutely correct; rather than try to keep a man from a thing against his will, it is a far more effective means to make him voluntarily want to stay away."
[quote=pillbox]
"If that was too rambling, consider this - if Knowledge is Power, it does not follow that the power belongs to the person with the knowledge, but rather exists as power OVER them."[/quote]
She chuckles cheerfully. "Oh, it was perfectly lucid. But I would never dream of equating knowledge with power. I was merely comparing the two. Knowledge is a power, certainly, but only one of many; charisma, money, force, fear, prestige, authority, cunning, to name but a few."