Ignorance of Knowledge and Knowledge of ignorance!

GUEST COLUMN: Dr. N Prabhudev

Life was lost in living!

Wisdom was lost in knowledge!

Knowledge was lost in information!

Bengaluru, Feb. 22: The scientific revolution has not been a revolution of knowledge. It has been a revolution in ignorance. The greatest discovery that launched the scientific revolution was the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions. The fundamental rule that seeing is believing should be changed to believing is seeing. Faith is, above all, openness; an act of trust in the unknown.” Believing in what is possible is what leads us to see all the possibilities.

First, science is a body of knowledge. Second, it is a process with which the knowledge is produced. Science Implies knowledge. All knowledge is not science. All Knowledge has not been tried and tested. Science involves pursuit of knowledge covering general truths and the operations of fundamental laws. Knowledge is a justified true belief.

Religions exist because science cannot give all the answers. Basic ideas like it is good to be good- No scientific way to settle that question. There is nothing that tells us that rationality is real. We believe many things because the consequences of not believing are too awful to contemplate.

The enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge. Intelligence is about quality of mind. It is the ability to learn from experience, ability to adapt to new situations, to understand and to handle abstract concepts. Simplicities are enormously complex – consider Less is more!

A population of human brains is much smarter than any individual brain in isolation. Knowledge is innate and acquired. The ultimate source of human knowledge is the faculty of reason and necessity as mother of invention. Human beings are, by nature, extremely complex. We have the ability to think ahead, to dream, to love and to mourn the loss of loved ones.

I believe Knowledge Is Power. Childhood mind set is a state of don’t worry, be happy! Ignorance Is Bliss. My Real knowledge is to know the extent of my ignorance. Fearing knowledge sounds silly. The humbling power of ‘I don’t know’ and admitting ignorance can build trust. We’ve mastered the art of pretending to know the answer to a question, smiling, nodding, and bluffing our way through a makeshift answer- fake it until we make it. Hearing someone candidly admit one’s ignorance can be refreshing.
It is claimed that The Speed of Darkness is faster than the Speed of Light? Strictly speaking darkness has no speed. Darkness is chased away by light. It disappears at the same speed as light arrives. Stupidity has just about the same speed as that of gossip.

Ignorance is a detestable state of mind. A lot of people fear looking stupid. But Ignorance doesn’t equal stupidity. Ignorant is being simply unaware! It’s a simple human nature. There isn’t a person on this planet who knows everything. I have met plenty who think they do!

We credit success to ourselves but blame others for the failures. We all want to be seen in a good light. We don’t want to acknowledge that failure is down to our own mistakes. We are protecting ourselves. So blame others and avoid recriminations.
I know what I know! I know what I don’t know – It’s a lot! We are all born equal and ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. What makes us truly human is our knowledge of our ignorance. There is a deluge of information and we are staved of knowledge! Opinion is half knowledge and half ignorance. Organised information is knowledge.

Knowledge is not exclusive to Humans! All complex beings have knowledge. Birds and animals have knowledge of things — where to nest, how to build, where to dig, when to run, and so on. Birds can navigate their way thousands of miles in the sky. A fish knows its place in the ocean. Butterflies know to pollinate.

Many are blind to their own foolishness and fail to recognize their own level of incompetence! But many smart people underestimate themselves! Some people simply are too dense to recognize the Dunning and Kruger effect! People are not only incompetent; their incompetence robs them of the mental ability to realize just how inept they are.
Knowledge doesn’t expire.

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