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With decades of iconoclastic consulting experience Allan Wallace trains and inspires visionaries.
Allan is Rector of Bastiat Free University and aut... (more...)
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We only think we know
Well educated specialists are as informed of their narrow areas of expertise as modern science allows.
It is natural to think of how sophisticated our modern knowledge is, and to proclaim the vast areas of ignorance of not more than a decade or a century ago.
What we choose to ignore is that in another decade or another century the intelligentsia of that time will be viewing our own ignorance with disdain.
In a millennium or two they may refer to the twenty first century as part of the dark ages.We be ignorant
I know I am ignorant.
And so is everyone else on this planet.
"I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." - Isaac Newton
This is reality. We have not come so very far from Sir Isaac. We now have a handful of pebbles, but no understanding of larger rocks, much less boulders, and beyond a full sea of knowledge.
Our educations have made us fools by providing distilled knowledge without understanding. Institutionalized schools have approached uncertainties by pretending to be certain. Subspecialization in increasingly narrow disciplines has encouraged us to believe that we share inclusive general knowledge.
When we advance in our subfield we discover hidden holes in the knowledge base. We then proceed to assume these gaps away, hiding them once again. We proceed on the assumption that other subdisciplines lack these hidden holes -- or that unknown or contradictory facts must be inconsequential, mere outliers on the graph of human knowledge.
Our professors behave like the facts they present are completely proven. They then leverage their focused bit of knowledge and represent themselves as experts in many fields.
We know much less than we need to know. The very basics elude us. If you want proof, consider there are scientists on every side of almost every fact.
Global cooling was the well funded panic as I was growing up. We knew we were entering another ice age. Now we are told we are still in a warming trend from the last ice age. At least we are acting like that is fact.
Thomas Malthus proved earth could not sustain its current population; this was in the 18th century. Today you can find Scientists that will argue dozens of different positions about the population bomb from the same type of facts Malthus used. I imagine pretentious cave men argued over the same ideas, for many of the same melodramatic and self-serving reasons.
Evolution has dozens of different supporting camps, they argue as much within themselves as with creationists, all from the same facts (I have a half boiled other idea myself).
Contesting fact interpretations abound on all subjects, to the point Max Planck said:
"An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: What does happen is that the opponents gradually die out."
An important scientific innovation... not converting with facts, but by survival.
We only pretend to know.
Take a fresh look at our knowledge
Knowledge without wisdom or understanding is a weak cane to lean upon.
This is also a dandy sorting device. Some will find an author they previously dismissed and dismiss this page in the same bundle.
Stereotypes are so useful as a psychological defense.
In the words of Oliver Cromwell, "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."
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Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds
It has happened before, it will happen again, it is happening now.
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 05/09/2008)
List Price: $15.95
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Don't be a sucker in things that matter!
Amazon Price: $16.17 (as of 05/09/2008)
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Critical Path
independent-creative-genius, we should all be so dedicated to seeking truth rather than attempting to validate what we were taught.
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 05/09/2008)
List Price: $19.95
The Problem of Pain
C.S. Lewis tackles a very tough philosophical problem, and pursues some interesting answers.
Amazon Price: $8.76 (as of 05/09/2008)
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Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
This Nobel Prize winning physicist writes an entertaining and provocative narrative. He even talks a bit about science.
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 05/09/2008)
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Max Planck understood scientific innovation
Plank has been called the father of the quantum physics. Think of the opposition he encountered with that innovative concept.
Suppose a new scientific innovation is in error, it may take generations to come back to the original knowledge and start over. Knowledge can be gained, vilified, lost, recovered, ignored, ridiculed, lost again, and discovered again.Take another look at this model of the Antikythera Mechanism. That calculator and astronomical clock was built about 100 BC. We now think the knowledge to build such a mechanism was lost until reinvented, or rediscovered, in the medieval period.
Until the mechanism was discovered it was an undisputed fact that such sophistication was well beyond the ancients. Often we are like little children stating "I know" to any pronouncement even before the idea is presented. We are also very good at rationalizing away large errors and misjudgments that are consistent companions of progress.
"I see men ordinarily more eager to discover a reason for things than to find out whether things are so." - Michel de Montaigne 1532-1592
Just because a fact or some knowledge is known does not prove it is without error. It is not what we don't know that is dangerous.
It is what we think we know, and we are wrong, that can really hurt us.
If you are still a student, get broad knowledge
The greater your view, the sooner you will acquire the wisdom of known ignorance. Then you can start to learn.
We need to rediscover the joys of learning we experienced as children.With the decline of the industrial age it is partially their frequently renewed knowledge that sets the Netcohort apart.
Make learning enjoyable, if you must return to school, do it for yourself this time.
Start reading.
Read for enjoyment. The more you read the the faster you read. The faster you read the more enjoyable reading becomes.
After you are reading for enjoyment, toss in some reading about areas you are passionate about. You can unlearn school instilled habits and rediscover the pleasures of learning you knew as a child.
With broad knowledge you have a foundation for understanding your personally selected area of concentration. Pursuit of mastery in you life's passion can enhance your whole life. Self-directed learning can then profoundly enable excellence and meaning.
Before you started school, learning was a 24/7/365 exciting journey.
It can become that again.
Even then we all must understand;
we only pretend to know.
Allan
I've displayed my ignorance
"In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Did my proclamation of ignorance interest you, excite you, or perhaps annoy you? I may have confused the difference in writing something convincing and writing something because I am convinced.
"We are surrounded by easily perceived barriers that limit our achievement. Most such walls were erected using substantial appearing mists of ignorance. We need to discover and acknowledge these boundaries, and then run through them." - Allan R. Wallace
Our individual lives can have meaning, don't let a single minded pursuit of what and how keep you from asking why.
"Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge." - Mark Twain
Take this chance to let everyone know what you think, about what we all think we know. In a millennium or two your comments may offer valuable insights into our society.
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jacquelinestone
Wonderful challenge to our educational system, or should I say regurgitation system?! Posted May 03, 2008 |
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Kyle74
Very thoughtful lens. Posted April 27, 2008 |
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I display my ignorance daily! I come by it honestly and with humility. ;~) Posted February 28, 2008 |
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Margaret_Schaut
I've added this terrific page to the lensroll of my blog http://mschaut.wordpress.com/ and I really hope it brings you some traffic! Posted February 17, 2008 |
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JerryW
Alan, Thanks for visiting my lens, /Losers-Guide-To-Happiness. You're right; our lenses are not exactly compliments. I started another lens which is also different, but you may be interested: /megillah. Guide for the Perplexed was the title of a book by Maimonides, about 1000 years ago. Posted February 27, 2007 |
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KCStargazer
Braaaaaaaap! SQUIDZILLA likes! Posted February 25, 2007 |
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Margaret_Schaut
Oh, I laughed and laughed because it is SO TRUE! We can't even LISTEN to one another openly anymore.... Unmitigated pride gets in our way all the time. Excellent Lens! Posted December 12, 2006 |
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jackclee
Recommend book "A guide for the Perplexed" by E.F. Schumaker. Posted December 10, 2006 |
recommended in the blurbs, and a couple of complementary ideas
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. -- Proverbs 4:7
"Everything is theoretically impossible, until it's done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen." - Robert A. Heinlein
Pick up a couple of books from this page and challenge yourself. Even if you have a mind like a steel trap you don't want to let it rust shut.
Guide for the Perplexed
Jack recommended this book, that was good enough for me. I have now read and enjoyed it also. Although there are areas where I disagree -- I have also learned.
Amazon Price: $9.60 (as of 05/09/2008)
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The Crowd
A classic.
Large groups can be manipulated by simple ideas - the sound bite is nothing new. Politicians, professors, laborers, all of us; we are all susceptible to falling under the spell of the current "truth."
Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 05/09/2008)
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Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming
A Refreshing, non hysterical, voice on human priorities. Agree or disagree about global warming - at least try to balance the current scientific evidence and rhetoric.
Amazon Price: $14.28 (as of 05/09/2008)
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Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950
Some great insights, and some real challenges to our trained view of history.
Amazon Price: $24.95 (as of 05/09/2008)
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A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
As the pendulum swings, leaders and visionaries will become more right brain guided. Find how to adjust as we leave the over emphasis on linear thought and bell shaped curves.
Amazon Price: $10.50 (as of 05/09/2008)
List Price: $15.00
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