---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As Harvard historian of science Peter…"
description: "\"As Harvard historian of science Peter Galison has demonstrated, the universe of classified knowledge now far exceeds the universe of unclassified knowl..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d35/ryan-shapiro-48783_disparity_as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-ga_1444656.jpg"
---

#  As Harvard historian of science Peter Galison has…

![“As Harvard historian of science Peter Galison has demonstrated, the universe of classified knowledge now far exceeds the universe of unclassified knowledge. That's a staggering thought. There is far more classified knowledge in the world than unclassified. And that disparity grows all the time.” quote by Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d35/ryan-shapiro-48783_disparity_as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-ga_1444656.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d35/ryan-shapiro-48783_disparity_as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-ga_1444656.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d35/ryan-shapiro-48783_disparity_as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-ga_1444656.jpg)

> “As Harvard historian of science Peter Galison has demonstrated, the universe of classified knowledge now far exceeds the universe of unclassified knowledge. That's a staggering thought. There is far more classified knowledge in the world than unclassified. And that disparity grows all the time.”

[Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Classified information now vastly outnumbers public knowledge, highlighting growing secrecy.

**In simple terms:** More secrets than public facts.

Key Takeaway

Recognize the impact of secrecy.

Themes

secrecy information power knowledge society

Mood

concerned thoughtful

Type

analytical critical

When to use this quote

- policy making
- journalism
- academic research
- public advocacy

Key Concepts

classification information asymmetry national security

Questions to Reflect On

- How does secrecy affect democracy?
- What can be done to balance security and openness?

A Different Perspective

Secrecy can hinder transparency and trust.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Classified Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/classified-knowledge-5179182/) [Disparity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disparity/) [Exceed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exceed/) [Grows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grows/) [Harvard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harvard/) [Historian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historian/) [Peter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peter/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Staggering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/staggering/) [Unclassified Disparity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unclassified-disparity-5179183/) [Unclassified Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unclassified-knowledge-5179181/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [Universe Classified](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe-classified-5179185/) [Universe Unclassified](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe-unclassified-5179184/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/)

## Related quotes

> [There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/there-can-be-no-disparity-in-marriage-like-unsuitability-of-mind-and/)

[Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/)

> [Pay disparity is something I don't like honestly. I feel it depends on say, if any actress and actor at the same level bring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nidhhi-agerwal/pay-disparity-is-something-i-don-t-like-honestly-i-feel-it-depends-on/)

[Nidhhi Agerwal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nidhhi-agerwal/)

> [It was better walk with dignity than ride in shame. A lot of people in Cincinnati are saying, "Rather than have the continual problems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-sharpton/it-was-better-walk-with-dignity-than-ride-in-shame-a-lot-of-people-in/)

[Al Sharpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-sharpton/)

> [There'll be a growing disparity between economics and politics. An economy that grows so rapidly is intractably global. On the other hand, the current…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-wriston/there-ll-be-a-growing-disparity-between-economics-and-politics-an/)

[Walter Wriston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-wriston/)

> [Those close to Mr. Obama say he grows irritated at being misunderstood - not just by opponents who insinuate that he caters to African-Americans,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-kantor/those-close-to-mr-obama-say-he-grows-irritated-at-being-misunderstood/)

[Jodi Kantor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-kantor/)

> [Behavior must also be adequately assessed under appropriate circumstances. Ill-defined global measures of perceived self-efficacy or defective assessments of performance will yield discordances. Disparities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-bandura/behavior-must-also-be-adequately-assessed-under-appropriate/)

[Albert Bandura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-bandura/)

> [The greatest single challenge facing our globalised world is to combat and eradicate its disparities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-mandela/the-greatest-single-challenge-facing-our-globalised-world-is-to/)

[Nelson Mandela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-mandela/)

> [I'm interested in illuminating the enormous disparity between vast poverty and the tiny upper class... This vast inequity is unfair by definition, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-mcdonell/i-m-interested-in-illuminating-the-enormous-disparity-between-vast/)

[Nick McDonell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-mcdonell/)

> [The evil of the actual disparity in their ages (and Mr. Woodhouse had not married early) was much increased by his constitution and habits;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-evil-of-the-actual-disparity-in-their-ages-and-mr-woodhouse-had/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [Social mobility decreased under Labour and under the current government it is reversing. The differences between the poorest and richest are returning to Victorian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-trigell/social-mobility-decreased-under-labour-and-under-the-current/)

[Jonathan Trigell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-trigell/)

> [All... religions show the same disparity between belief and practice, and each is safe till it tries to exclude the rest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/all-religions-show-the-same-disparity-between-belief-and-practice-and/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [An increasing number of people are growing uncomfortable with the gulf between the world's rich and the poor. Ostentatiously splashing your money around simply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kalle-lasn/an-increasing-number-of-people-are-growing-uncomfortable-with-the/)

[Kalle Lasn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kalle-lasn/)

> ['Inequality' has become the political theme/slogan of our time in both Europe and the U.S., yet political leaders do not even bother to consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-singer/inequality-has-become-the-political-theme-slogan-of-our-time-in-both/)

[Paul Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-singer/)

> [...As the disparity between the rich and the poor grows, the fight to corner resources is intensifying. To push through their "sweetheart deals," to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/as-the-disparity-between-the-rich-and-the-poor-grows-the-fight-to/)

[Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/)

> [How many people on Earth serve people? And how many people on Earth serve the Earth? The difference in the numbers must be enormous.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-muller/how-many-people-on-earth-serve-people-and-how-many-people-on-earth/)

[Robert Muller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-muller/)

## More by Ryan Shapiro

> [I am calling on all citizens with access to unreleased records pertaining to illegal, unconstitutional, or immoral government activities to return those records to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/i-am-calling-on-all-citizens-with-access-to-unreleased-records/)

[Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

> [Democracy can't function without an informed citizenry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/democracy-can-t-function-without-an-informed-citizenry/)

[Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

> [Democracy cannot meaningfully function without an informed citizenry, and such a citizenry is impossible without broad public access to information about the operations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/democracy-cannot-meaningfully-function-without-an-informed-citizenry/)

[Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

> [The notion that the records of government are the property of the people is radically democratic, but it is broken in practice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/the-notion-that-the-records-of-government-are-the-property-of-the/)

[Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

> [Mandela today is almost universally held as a heroic freedom fighter, and of course rightly so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/mandela-today-is-almost-universally-held-as-a-heroic-freedom-fighter/)

[Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

> [The US intelligence community is deeply allergic to the Freedom of Information Act. It is fair to say that the intelligence community does nearly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/the-us-intelligence-community-is-deeply-allergic-to-the-freedom-of/)

[Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

> [I'm not interested in embarrassing the United States. We as a nation need to foster a broader understanding of national security, and when in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/i-m-not-interested-in-embarrassing-the-united-states-we-as-a-nation/)

[Ryan Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

[Explore all 8 Ryan Shapiro quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/)

## More Disparity quotes

> [There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/there-can-be-no-disparity-in-marriage-like-unsuitability-of-mind-and/)

[Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/)

> [...As the disparity between the rich and the poor grows, the fight to corner resources is intensifying. To push through their "sweetheart deals," to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/as-the-disparity-between-the-rich-and-the-poor-grows-the-fight-to/)

[Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/)

> ['Inequality' has become the political theme/slogan of our time in both Europe and the U.S., yet political leaders do not even bother to consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-singer/inequality-has-become-the-political-theme-slogan-of-our-time-in-both/)

[Paul Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-singer/)

> [An increasing number of people are growing uncomfortable with the gulf between the world's rich and the poor. Ostentatiously splashing your money around simply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kalle-lasn/an-increasing-number-of-people-are-growing-uncomfortable-with-the/)

[Kalle Lasn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kalle-lasn/)

> [All... religions show the same disparity between belief and practice, and each is safe till it tries to exclude the rest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/all-religions-show-the-same-disparity-between-belief-and-practice-and/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Social mobility decreased under Labour and under the current government it is reversing. The differences between the poorest and richest are returning to Victorian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-trigell/social-mobility-decreased-under-labour-and-under-the-current/)

[Jonathan Trigell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-trigell/)

> [The evil of the actual disparity in their ages (and Mr. Woodhouse had not married early) was much increased by his constitution and habits;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-evil-of-the-actual-disparity-in-their-ages-and-mr-woodhouse-had/)

[Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/)

> [I'm interested in illuminating the enormous disparity between vast poverty and the tiny upper class... This vast inequity is unfair by definition, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-mcdonell/i-m-interested-in-illuminating-the-enormous-disparity-between-vast/)

[Nick McDonell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-mcdonell/)

> [The greatest single challenge facing our globalised world is to combat and eradicate its disparities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nelson-mandela/the-greatest-single-challenge-facing-our-globalised-world-is-to/)

[Nelson Mandela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nelson-mandela/)

> [Behavior must also be adequately assessed under appropriate circumstances. Ill-defined global measures of perceived self-efficacy or defective assessments of performance will yield discordances. Disparities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-bandura/behavior-must-also-be-adequately-assessed-under-appropriate/)

[Albert Bandura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-bandura/)

> [Those close to Mr. Obama say he grows irritated at being misunderstood - not just by opponents who insinuate that he caters to African-Americans,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-kantor/those-close-to-mr-obama-say-he-grows-irritated-at-being-misunderstood/)

[Jodi Kantor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-kantor/)

> [There'll be a growing disparity between economics and politics. An economy that grows so rapidly is intractably global. On the other hand, the current…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-wriston/there-ll-be-a-growing-disparity-between-economics-and-politics-an/)

[Walter Wriston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-wriston/)

> [It was better walk with dignity than ride in shame. A lot of people in Cincinnati are saying, "Rather than have the continual problems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-sharpton/it-was-better-walk-with-dignity-than-ride-in-shame-a-lot-of-people-in/)

[Al Sharpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-sharpton/)

> [Pay disparity is something I don't like honestly. I feel it depends on say, if any actress and actor at the same level bring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nidhhi-agerwal/pay-disparity-is-something-i-don-t-like-honestly-i-feel-it-depends-on/)

[Nidhhi Agerwal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nidhhi-agerwal/)

> [How many people on Earth serve people? And how many people on Earth serve the Earth? The difference in the numbers must be enormous.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-muller/how-many-people-on-earth-serve-people-and-how-many-people-on-earth/)

[Robert Muller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-muller/)

[Browse all 140 Disparity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disparity/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "As Harvard historian of science Peter Galison has demonstrated, the universe of classified knowledge now far exceeds the universe of unclassified knowledge. That's a staggering thought. There is far more classified knowledge in the world than unclassified. And that disparity grows all the time.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Ryan Shapiro"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-galison-has-demonstrated-the/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Disparity"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-galison-has-demonstrated-the/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d35/ryan-shapiro-48783_disparity_as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-ga_1444656.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d35/ryan-shapiro-48783_disparity_as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-ga_1444656.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d35/ryan-shapiro-48783_disparity_as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-ga_1444656.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“As Harvard historian of science Peter Galison has demonstrated, the universe of classified knowledge now far…” — Ryan Shapiro",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Ryan Shapiro",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-shapiro/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "As Harvard historian of science Peter...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-galison-has-demonstrated-the/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-shapiro/as-harvard-historian-of-science-peter-galison-has-demonstrated-the/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```