Fundamental knowledge of living process within the universe appears to consist, all but entirely, of a corrosive dissolution of any impression of victory, or, indeed, the belief that there is a victory at all.
At best we learn that such triumphs as there are must be recognised as temporally and spatially parochial. Knowledge is the understanding and recognition of utter defeat. No one cares for that. –
Those who are victorious, here and for now, find in knowledge only the recognition that others have been defeated, something which they already knew, or the understanding that their victory is temporary and limited, which is beside their point.
Those in the ascendant gain little through fundamental knowledge, and so have correspondingly little incentive to seek it. – The rich are notoriously incurious about the world; why should be they anything else? For those who have the upper hand for the time being, and even the most triumphant have nothing more, knowledge spoils the fleeting pleasure of limited success, and holds no attractions.
For those who are defeated, knowledge banishes the illusory consolation of victory in defeat (moral superiority as it might be) and have no reason to seek that understanding other than the hope of future parochial revenge through cunning, a sour balm at best.
With such slender attractions it is therefore unsurprising that knowledge is hard to come by, and little sought after. The victorious do not require it, and the defeated find that it adds insult to injury. It is a wonder that there is any at all.