literacy.

     If delegated chain-of-command authority won’t work by 
telephone but only by written instruction, what sort of 
authority does come into play? The answer is simple, but not 
easy to convey. On the telephone only the authority of 
knowledge will work. Delegated authority is lineal, visual, 
hierarchical. The authority of knowledge is nonlineal, nonvisual, 
and inclusive. To act, the delegated person must always get 
clearance from the chain-of-command. The electric situation 
eliminates such patterns; such “checks and balances” are alien 
to the inclusive authority of knowledge. Consequently, 
restraints on electric absolutist power can be achieved, not by 
the separation of powers, but by a pluralism of centres. This 
problem has arisen apropos of the direct private line from the 
Kremlin to the White House. President Kennedy stated his