The classic saying:

Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not intelligence, intelligence is not wisdom.

It seems obvious that these concepts are hierarchical in terms of scope or evolution. My basic thought on why this is, is that:

• Information is a way of packaging data for use.
• Knowledge is the acquisition (and a way of acquiring information, perhaps) and even the understanding that one has acquired information.
• Intelligence is a way of manipulating information and knowledge to get certain things done, one of which is the acquiring of more information and knowledge.
• Wisdom, which comes with age, or rather with the aging of knowledge, is the acceptance that all of the above, for a variety of reasons, has only limited usefulness.

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