The concept of information allows us to describe the dynamics of available distinctions — their loss in folding and their emergence in unfolding. Relatively stable nodes are discovered in these dynamics — invariants that persist through change. Their retention and organization constitute knowledge — a structure over the elemental regime of information. The elemental regime of information does not disappear, but continues to operate within this structure.
Knowledge is retained and becomes available through traces. As we already know, a trace is inherently relative: it exists as a mode of access by a distinguishing structure to an accomplished distinction. The particular expression of knowledge within this structure is therefore relative.
The adequacy of knowledge becomes apparent when its expression withstands new distinctions, preserves connections, and allows expected traces to be obtained again. Some modes of expression cope with this better than others, so their relativity does not mean arbitrariness.
The expression of knowledge itself, carried out through interchangeable traces, therefore cannot remain a fixed dogma and must be continually revised to preserve its adequacy.