In Praise of Ignorance
or 'Ignorance is Bliss'
In praise of Ignorance
A former UK politician, Rory Stewart, has just started a series of radio programmes entitled ‘The Long History of Ignorance’. His first episode quoted Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defence in both Gerald Ford and George W. Bush administrations as saying in a press conference in 2002, “There are known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know.”
In times past (before the Internet made information so widely available) ignorance was often not a bad thing: two individuals might invent or discover the same thing at the same time without prior knowledge of the other. Eg. 17th-century independent formulation of calculus by Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Humans are capable of approaching similar challenges in their environment and coming up with sometimes disparate solutions. The one which survives and is taken up more widely is usually the more robust.
Earlier this year, my friend, Maggie Jackson published ‘Uncertain’ – The Wisdom and Wonder of being Unsure. Trained as a reporter, she has highlighted so many instances in which uncertainty is not a bad thing. It should not be feared. Indeed, some of my own proudest achievements were begun in blissful ignorance of the dangers or problems I’d be facing. Perhaps you feel the same?
But it isn’t only humans with this ability. Sparrows in China have calls very similar to sparrows in the UK. Is this a function of the limited physical properties of their airways or some genetic ‘memory’ or pre-disposition to certain sounds? Were they ‘ignorant’ of the calls made by their far-away cousins? Were their call patterns developed independently? And by reporting this, am I demonstrating human curiosity to understand our environment?
The American Writer, E.L. Doctorow compared his craft of writing to ‘…driving after dark in the fog. (We) can only see as far as (our) headlights, but (we) can make the whole trip that way.’ This feature plus an innate openness to adventure may have led humankind to most of its discoveries.
This applies to so much in Life. Most of us accept that we will just have to cope with whatever challenges or hurdles lie in wait for us in the darkness. Like the slimy creatures lurking in crevices near my most tender plants. I am now aware of numerous techniques and ploys to prosecute warfare against them. But which is best? This is a ‘Known Unknown’. I don’t know. I just wish some of those Chinese sparrows would vacation in my garden to feast upon the gastropod banquet awaiting them.
🙈🙉🙊👍