This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
Ignorance Plagues Progress: Finding New Avenues to End It
Ignorance is the anchor that drags on progress. Technology's rapid advance in less than a handful of decades has created a social, religious and political backlash. Ignorance is not stupidity. Some of the most educated people in the world have been some of the most willfully ignorant. With 5 in 10 adult Americans barely able to read and write, and nearly 9 in 10 exhibiting varying degrees of difficulty in synthesizing information, 2 in 10 taking in any kind of non-entertainment news, how do those who propose to advance humanity "catch up" the vast majority of the planet to become broader, more rational thinkers?
kane rodriguez
Debra Smith 200+
Thomas Adair
Trish Hamilton
Barry Palmer 50+
Most of the people I work with would be better informed if they had more time to follow the news and issues. As it is, most of them have spouses who must work to support themselves and their children. Even with two incomes, they must still do all of the chores themselves, including time consuming projects like car maintenance. Seems to me this is just how the powerful people want us, employed and too consumed with daily living to stir up trouble.
E G 10+
Obey No1kinobe 50+
Poor reading skills and limited interest in reading or more thoughtful TV/Internet, makes whatever the primary sources of information are more powerful e.g. Church or Fox News or Family.
I guess most of us gravitate to media that reinforces our views.
pat gilbert 50+
Some of us just look.
Fritzie Reisner 100+
People would be better able to reason together with data if there were more trust that everyone at the table is thinking things through in good faith.
Brian Ross
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Research is clear that we are as a species less consistently rational than we believe we are and less self-perceptive than we believe we are. (see Kahneman on this). More specifically, well over half of drivers consider themselves above average drivers, and I believe, similarly, that people (including educated people) tend to have an exaggerated view of their critical thinking skills.
So I don't think those who you describe as willfully ignorant purposely reject critical thinking so much as they are confident that they are thinking critically.
Again, none of us are as rational as we may think in how we sift through and synthesize data, and people have understandable difficulty knowing whose data to trust or whose representations to trust.
Trust is part of gathering and using data intelligently together.
Feyisayo Anjorin 50+
I am not convinced that there is a vast majority of rational thinkers that the 'ignorant ones' have to catch up with.
I believe the answer is in the educational system. A system that would produce a generation of learners who will be able to acquire knowledge from scholars and from interactions with other global citizens, without being restricted in their minds to only the things that has been learned. An open mind asks questions; but does not arrogate the monopoly of answers to itself.
This form of education also rests on self-examination, critical thinking and the recognition of the intellectual/creative capacities of other people.
By this I mean that a Bishop, a physicist, a journalist, or a poet should not try to explain the complex ideas and theories outside their field.
Brian Ross
Fritzie Reisner 100+
V Alexander
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Looking to actual evidence (not just some supporting examples close at hand) can be a great way of thinking outside the box of "common wisdom."
V Alexander
I appreciate the gentle rebuke - supposed "common wisdom" is less useful than facts, possibly just an ambient sense of something, and shouldn't suffice for any analytical effort.
Fritzie Reisner 100+
There is an interesting assumption in popular culture that those who inquire deeply into or immerse themselves in a hands on way in an area have less awareness of the need for change than those who are on the sidelines.
In my experience, this assumption is typically not true.
Edward Webber
There is a knee-jerk inclination to create a new law to ensure children are raised without indoctrination, but how is that defined? Where is the line between indoctrination and healthy, rational education? Do you ban child rearing to those who express willful ignorance? Do you have teachers report the parents of children who are clearly indoctrinated to child protective services? What happens then? Is foster care, in its current state, a better alternative?
Unfortunately, many people have begun to think indoctrination and willful ignorance are rights, immune to prosecution. This must change first. The 'right' to lie to others is the protective legal blanket these people wrap themselves in. Remove that blanket and willful ignorance will be nearly impossible to pass on to both current and future generations. Now, laws against lying are already on the books in many countries, so this is not as massive a change as you may think. In the US, 'infomercials' advertising palm reading and psychic readings must have a disclaimer of "for entertainment purposes only". Even minor laws such as that still don't exist for every other non-evidence based claim.
Start requiring all claims with no demonstrative evidence to follow: "The following claim has no evidence and is purely conjecture" and we'll have a good start.
edward long 100+
Omniscience is the opposite of ignorance. No natural being is omniscient. Therefore all beings are ignorant to a widely varying degree. I think it could be said that ignorance DRIVES progress. Man's hunger to know, to learn, to observe, to discover is rooted in the desire to fill the voids in his knowledge base, to supplant his ignorance with knowledge. Somehow it seems what we do not know is more invigorating than what we do know. Set your sights on eradicating apathy, Mr. Ross. Ignorance goes the way of apathy. Thank you for your work and best wishes for success!
pat gilbert 50+
Brian Ross
Our education system creates a sub-group of 3% of the population that is natively smart. 6% that are higher functioning and get most of it all, and 94% that just don't. Some because of aptitude, on the bell curve won't understand much. The vast majority of Americans, though, on that same bell curve, should be doing far better. Ancient cultural moires are a huge drag on learning, and a huge wellspring of ignorance.
So how do we leverage our huge advances in information technology, and develop new methods of education? How do we culturally educate the population to be broader-minded socially, politically, and economically? Is it possible to bring religious people "forward" to embrace faith in the scientific realities of the 21st century?
Zdenek Smith 100+
I also believe that sites such as Wikipedia and Khan Academy are making great contributions toward decreasing ignorance.
Finally the breaking down of typical media channels and publishing industry where only a few were choosing what news or information masses will receive the Internet is making revolution in how people learn more from each other (social networks), blogs, youtube and independent publishers.
I think we will gradually see improvements esp. with the new net generation which has to know how to read and write to use computers, tablets, phones and social networks for example.