I am in the former group.
I think the world can be split in to two groups: "The Knowledgeable" and the ill-informed "Believers".
- "The Knowledgeable" are people who "know" what is known, have a good idea of what is not known and are prepared to update their knowledge as new evidence becomes available, whereas
- "The Believers" are people who are not interested in what is currently known because they are convinced that they they know all there is to know already. They suffer from the "tyranny of dogma", as Ken Robinson calls it.
Take a look at this article on the BBC Future article on the Dunning-Kruger effect entitled
"The more inept you are the smarter you think you are". This is essentially the difference between "The Knowledgeable" and "The Believers". "The Believers" understand so little that they do not have any comprehension of their level of their ignorance - they have no idea what they don't know.
- "The Knowledgeable" are open-minded, whereas
- "The Believers" are close-minded.
- "The Knowledgeable" understand that uncertainty is an inherent part of understanding complex systems and embrace the concept of probability to take in to account the uncertainty, whereas
- "The Believers" see uncertainty as weakness and probably don't understand probability!
- "The Knowledgeable" are curious, which means they care ("curious" and "care" have the same Latin root), whereas
- "The Believers" are not curious, because in their minds they already have the definitive answer. Does that mean they don't care?
- "The Knowledgeable" are constantly looking for evidence that might disprove their current hypothesis, otherwise known as "the scientific method", whereas
- "The Believers" are constantly looking for anything that will confirm their beliefs, otherwise known as "cognitive bias", in this case confirmation bias.
However, many scientists have also been trapped by "confirmation bias". Beware. That is one of the reasons I enjoy teaching. The students with no pre-conceptions ask the most awkward and innocent questions, usually beginning with "why?".
- "The Knowledgeable" are prepared to be wrong, whereas
- "The Believers" are convinced they are right.
So . . . . do we all have to "know" everything to make a contribution to society? No, we do not. None of us can possibly know everything. What we need to know is when to admit that we don't have the necessary expertise and when to defer to "The Knowledgeable" for expert advice, and "acknowledge" that you understand them.
We then need to accept the judgement of "The Knowledgeable", or put in comparable effort in research and analysis to become equally knowledgeable.
This is especially true in the 21st century when our knowledge-base is expanding so quickly. As the number of researchers increases exponentially and the technology they use also increases exponentially, mankind will generate more new information and knowledge in the next year than we have created in the whole history of mankind.
Which one are you?
