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"moonduck - a brain-in-a-vat (I love philosophy!) could be omniscient without having the power to actually do anything about it, surely?"
Not really. Let's say our Brain-in-a-vat wanted a cold one. Sans hands, our BIAV could surely not get one for itself. If said BIAV was omniscient, then it would surely know some technique to, say, use untapped potential in the human brain of telekinesis. Thus knowing how to do telekinesis, the BIAV could simply use the power of its' mind to obtain the necessary cold one and, well, pour it into the top of the Vat.
If you know everything, you are everything.
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