Defining Knowledge Work

Knowledge Work

The intended transformation and manipulation of information. Used mainly in opposition to the idea of physical work, or the transformation and manipulation of matter. Examples of knowledge work include secretarial work, research, programming. The rule of thumb could be "The work done that isn't a form of physical labor."

In general, "work" can be thought of as an activity in which you are doing something for a goal in which you are prevented from doing other things both at the time of performance and in the future due to some form of exhaustion.

The Professional-Managerial ClassProfessional-Managerial Class2026-07-05 · termThe PMC do the controlling work of the capitalists for them. If we imagine a world of capitalists and workers,…← 2 links hereopen → is filled with people who primarily do knowledge work. Note that this is a subset relation: a knowledge worker is not necessarily part of the class, but PMC workers are knowledge workers.

I'll add some of my thoughts around my definition of "knowledge work" to help clarify and bound it. I think in analogies and comparisons, so my best way of defining it is by relating it to other forms of work.

Assembly Line vs Wedding Planning

For this, I'm picking two extremes of the spectrum for an example. All forms of work can have some physical and knowledge component. What I am trying to bring out in this section is the difference in what is necessarily occupied by engaging in said work type.

Let's say you're on an assembly line doing the same activity over and over. It seems common that you don't need to 'think' so much once you get going on it, as it becomes a continuous activity in which you can simultaneously think in an unconstrained way. However, you're unable to do other physical work outside of the assembly work, as you'd be ineffective at the assembly work in the first place. Even something like stretching is a departure from working in some manner, so the physical constraint required to be considered 'working' is near total.

At the end of the day, a person who has performed physical labor can be exhausted physically. Their leisure is thus dictated by it. Likewise, there are some people who work physically and can't take a break; they need to 'do' something physical after because they are fired up and have essentially been entrained to continue doing something.

Knowledge work is similar in its constraining effect. Consider a person who is planning a wedding. While 'doing' the work, their mind is occupied. They are not thinking about other things, and when thoughts do arise they have to be suppressed. If they aren't suppressed, then no work is effectively getting done. However, we can easily imagine a person engaging fully with this work while walking, stretching, doing dishes, running errands, etc. In this case, doing knowledge work constrains your mind, not your body.

After work, a knowledge worker can also be exhausted and not want to think anymore. Likewise, they can also succumb to habituation: if their mind has been busy all day and their mind is not yet exhausted, they may be unable to 'turn it off' and will remain occupied.

So, the structure of what 'working' does is identical, the difference lies in what is intentionally occupied and forgone as a result of 'working.'

Training: Working out and Learning are work

When working out, we exhaust the body to build its physical capabilities. When learning, we exhaust the mind to build our mental capabilities. The goal (i.e., intended work product) pursued in this is an increase in capability.

A society which values11Also, be careful on this anthropomorphism of 'society.' Some of the 'opinions of society' are actually the opinions of a few people who are able to amplify their will onto it. I would not argue that everyone's (even in the general and not literal sense) wishes are considered in the forming of their society's opinions. physical work would incorporate more physical training into the upbringing of kids. This occurs via games, chores, literal child labor, etc. A society which values knowledge work would incorporate more mental training into the upbringing of kids. This occurs via education, church,22I've added church in here because participating at church is, in essence, a task which acts on the informational domain to pursue something. socializing, etc.1Also, be careful on this anthropomorphism of 'society.' Some of the 'opinions of society' are actually the opinions of a few people who are able to amplify their will onto it. I would not argue that everyone's (even in the general and not literal sense) wishes are considered in the forming of their society's opinions.2I've added church in here because participating at church is, in essence, a task which acts on the informational domain to pursue something.

In either, the constraints from before hold true. A kid who is running around in a game is not simultaneously doing chores.33And I mean that literally: you could 'gamify' chores but that is simply doing chores with a different feeling. In that case, they are doing the 'game-form' of that chore but are not doing any other physical activity. A kid who is solving math problems is not simultaneously learning about history. What they are doing is building up their capabilities.3And I mean that literally: you could 'gamify' chores but that is simply doing chores with a different feeling. In that case, they are doing the 'game-form' of that chore but are not doing any other physical activity.

As an aside: You should also see that the idea of "play" lingers nearby. Directed play is play in pursuit of an external goal and is work as I've defined it. While some forms of play have goals within them, these goals exist solely within play and cease to exist outside of it. Thus, play, in and of itself, is not work.

The Work Product

This is where some of the differences begin to show up. The result of knowledge work requires enacting or interpretation, but the product of knowledge itself can usually be copied almost trivially. Physical work, on the other hand, can be trivially used by anybody but isn't trivially duplicated, the effort has to be reperformed.

This manifests oddly in our economics. The result of physical labor is inherently scarce: if you wish to have more of this result you have to do more to make more of this result come about. Knowledge work, on the other hand, can be duplicated once it is complete (e.g., an argument can be copied after it is formed), and the scarcity of knowledge transfer is often artificially imposed by people.

This asymmetry has not always been true, however. We have taken care of most of the physical limitations to transferring the result of knowledge work. Physical labor, no matter how many advancements we have, will never have this property.

This difference in transferability is due to the fact that the result of knowledge work is informational, whereas the result of physical work is material.44And, to be clear, we can really get into this topic elsewhere. I'm presupposing a dualism here for explanatory purposes, but I digress.4And, to be clear, we can really get into this topic elsewhere. I'm presupposing a dualism here for explanatory purposes, but I digress.