Why Gnostic?

This post was in response to an email I exchanged with Lee Beachy with whom I recently reconnected with via LinkedIn. I figured I turn it into a post given the requency of inquiry on the topic.

On Gnosis, as you're likely aware it is simply the Greek root of knowing. Obviously the most common modern use is for the Christian gnostics, the gnostic gospels, Paul's stuff and the like. Perimeter's original name was CyberGnostic, as it "Knowing Technology", as you might imagine many thought I over thought the name:)

My use of Gnostic really stems from the Plato's ideas on forms. We know something to be a dog because it has the form of a dog. The world of forms was a transcendent world from which we came after crossing over the river of forgetfulness (or something like that). Similar concepts have been played out by many philosophers including more modern interpretations of the theme by Jung with his archetypes. Many philosophers argue that Plato's writings would ultimately shape Christian thought with the establishment of a world view possessing an ideal transcendent here after, which was a critical break from Hebrew teachings of the day.

Gnosis, as my mind thinks, is the ability to observe the logically necessary, and the logically necessary is the Ought, as in the way things "ought be". An example of that was various conversations around email circa 1990. Many organizations were trying to innovate the protocol for transfer, but that was simply a line of reasoning from the dogma of proprietary software that told them that the way to control the market was to control the protocol. This flew in the face of the fact that the critical bounding factor to the successful expansion of that technology was ubiquity and intern open protocols (in this case SMTP). Organizations spent billions of dollars in ignorance of the OUGHT only to have to adapt later.