Why we think we know more than we know
The perils of knowledge illusion
“The human mind is both genius and pathetic, brilliant and idiotic”.
Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach in “The Knowledge Illusion”
Overestimation of what we know seems to be a common human fallacy. The certainty of knowledge is a universal affliction.
Google has turned all of us into experts
The Internet is flooded with information and Google is the key we regularly use to unlock the information. We conflate information as knowledge. We read an article or two from Google searches and assume that we have gained expertise on the subject.
Information is not the same as knowledge
Information is bare facts and data. It is like the tip of the iceberg. Much of the knowledge is submerged below the surface of superficial information. Information is uni-dimensional, knowledge is complex. Information lacks context, knowledge exists at the intersection of multiple layers of information.
Admission of ignorance hurts our self-respect
Nothing seems more dreadful than to say “I don’t know” in public. To admit ignorance dents our sense of self-worth. The pretension to knowledge becomes a competitive game with each of us trying to outdo the other by claiming to know more than we know.
Humility is a rare quality
“The only thing I know is that I don’t know anything”
Socrates
To admit that we know less than others demands humility, an attitude that the contemporary society mocks as a weakness of character. To avoid looking like a fool in the company of friends, we prefer to sacrifice humbleness for pretentiousness. Empty vessels make the most noise. People with deep knowledge rarely boast about their expertise.
Self-examination is painful
To admit our limits of knowledge involves a process of self-scrutiny. Looking at the mirror and having to confront the unflattering image it presents is embarrassing. Cheating ourselves seems better than having to undertake the difficult task of self-introspection.
“There are two persons in the world we never see as they are, one’s self and one’s other self”
Arsene Houssaye (French novelist and poet )
Overestimation of our knowledge leads to poor decisions
However intelligent we may be, delusions about our knowledge could lead to wrong and costly decisions. Intelligence and knowledge are more communal than individual.
“Our intelligence resides not in individual brains but in the collective mind”
Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach in “The Knowledge Illusion”
What the late environmentalist Barry Commoner propounded as the First Law of Ecology is applicable to the accumulation of knowledge also:
“Everything is connected to Everything Else”.
Even a polymath cannot claim encyclopedic knowledge. Innovative knowledge exists at the intersections of disciplines. Science progresses by tapping into the collective knowledge of society.
There is a limit to the amount of knowledge that individual brains can store. To gain value, individual knowledge should add to the pool of collective knowledge.
Thanks for reading.
