It’s often said that knowledge is power, and so it seems that the acquisition of knowledge will be important. There are two means of achieving this; establishing seats of expertise and research (i.e. universities), and ‘leeching’ the expertise of others. We’re quite used to the latter, which might be through the purchase of technology or it might be through covert means – i.e. spying. Very many countries have intelligence services to gather intelligence about those who are in competition with them. nation.