As Big B once explained to me, there are four types of knowledge:
Known knowns: the things you know you know
Unknown knowns: the things you don't remember you know
Known unknowns: the things you know you don't know
Unknown Unknowns: the things you don't even know are possible to know
"The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know." Until very recently, I couldn't really figure out how this quote worked. Obviously, Socrates was a wise and educated philosopher, a giant among men. However, even established philosophers probably bullshit out their ass sometimes. Suddenly, I got it. Wikipedia was absolutely the catalyst for this epiphany. Praise be to the internet. The thought that struck me was, "Holy shit. I never knew this concept existed. Oh my gawd. There are bajillions of thoughts I haven't thunk! Ideas I've never come across before." And with that, my universe expanded, even if I couldn't see most of it.
As a snot-nosed, know-it-all teenage punk, I was, and still am to a slightly lesser degree, conceited. Oh, how I scorned the ignorant who had not sense to look around them. Fools, who did not realize their mortality put limits on the amount of time and amount of material they could learn. Bah. While that's an extreme exaggeration, I continue to get frustrated when kids in "upper level" classes do not live up to my expectations of the course requirements. In my self-absorbed, elitist appreciation of knowledge, even though I think I know "a lot," I realize there is a hella-lot more information I cannot conceive of. Despite the arrogance, I strive to continue the expansion of my knowledge. When an unknown unknown is forced into the realm of a known unknown, I can and will say, "I don't know, but I can find out."
This is not to say I think ignorance is necessarily evil. While I wish everyone could throw off the shackles of their ignorance, I know that most people will never be exposed to certain concepts, and I don't expect them to. Very little "knowledge" is relevant or necessary to daily life. Even in a professional occupation, the scope of understanding is usually confined to that particular field.
PS. "The more you know, the less you understand." I still don't really get this one. Also, Smash Mouth said something similar, so I'm a little biased.
PPS. Unrelated but awesome: Make your conscious act your conscience act.
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2 comments:
The four different kinds of unknowns are from a Donald Rumsfeld speech.
I knew Big B didn't come up with it, but that's interesting to note.
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