Exploring the Unknown

Why Embracing Ignorance is the Only Way to the Truth

Photo by Kai Gradert on Unsplash

Most of the anecdotes, ideas, and quotes mentioned throughout this article are inspired and taken from my interview with Dr. Stuart Firestein, the former chair of Columbia University’s Department of Biological Sciences and author of two books, Ignorance: How it Drives Science and Failure: Why Science is So Successful. Click here to listen to the full interview.

Intro-

When Isidor Isaac Rabi’s (I.I. Rabi) friends returned home from school each day, their mothers would greet them with the usual tried-and-tested question, “What did you learn today?” But not Rabi’s mom. Her inquiry was always, “What questions did you ask today?” An immigrant who grew up in the Lower East Side of New York, I.I. Rabi would later become a Nobel-prize-winning physicist at Columbia University.

Unlike Rabi’s mom, our culture tends to focus on the former question, “What did you learn today?” Enshrining expertise, we banish ignorance to the land of taboos. When geo-political and epidemiological crises arise, overnight Twitter “authorities” emerge. Our infatuation with knowledge is less an expression of intellect than a manifestation of arrogance.

But, it doesn’t have to be.

Instead, we can turn our obsession from the posturing of comprehension to the pursing of understanding. Instead of bemoaning ignorance, we can explore the unknown. And, here are three reasons why we should.

1. A Return to Science-

 One of the reasons we despise ignorance is that we have forgotten the origins of many of these facts. According to Dr. Firestein, modern science was built on an acceptance of ignorance. In the Scientific Revolution, the first scientists threw out the philosophers’ hierarchies and mind experiments demanding empirical data and experiments instead as evidence. They interrogated the traditions and superstitions of the past in search of scientific explanations for the world around them. As Dr. Firestein put it:

“They said, ‘Everything we know, we don't know; we have to find it out.’”

Through ignorance, innovation was born.

The scorning of ignorance short-circuits the scientific process. The questioning and the admittance of not knowing paves the way for great discoveries. Life-changing findings are brought about by individuals who embrace their ignorance and attempt to carry a torch into the Unknown.

Ignorance is not a realm to be feared, but, as my guest told me, a “frontier” to explore.

2. The Joy of Discovery

During my discussion with Dr. Firestein, Thomas Gray’s famous “ignorance is bliss” quote came to mind. Although I misattributed it to Shakespeare, I argued that a rogue interpretation of this could be a description of the joy of discovery.

Dr. Firestein agreed. In response, he brought up poet John Keats’ “negative capability.”

As Keats argued and Dr. Firestein explained, “negative capability” is how well we deal with the unknown. It is defined as “being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason” as Dr. Firestein quoted. To cite my guest directly:

“It's this idea of being patient with what we don't know and actually enjoying it, enjoying the mystery and the thinking about it.”

Struggling with our ignorance gives us an innate sense of satisfaction and joy once we have finally discovered the explanation or solution. Even if you didn’t enjoy the assembly line of learning in school, we all have experienced the high of finally lighting a torch and uncovering what is hidden in the dark of the unknown. Also, as “negative capability” alludes to, there is a certain thrill in the search. There is joy and satisfaction on the road to enlightenment.

3. Humility is the pathway to Enlightenment

However, our own pride is often our toughest barrier to enlightenment. It narrows our vision as we dismiss countering opinions that dare to presume that we are incorrect.

 In a culture preoccupied with narratives, being wrong is the greatest threat. To be wrong is to be publicly shamed. To admit your theories, hypotheses, and “educated” guesses might, in fact, actually be uneducated is to have your identity and credibility questioned. Twitter shouts, “Double-down!” How could a mortal ever be fallible?

Instead of seeing ideas and opinions as descriptions of the Truth, we take them as the full Truth and set ourselves to die upon them. We mistake a stiff neck for expertise, forgetting that true understanding is brought by philosophic experimentation. This is the result of intellectual pride.

By humbling ourselves and, therefore, decoupling our worth from our ideas (an idea that controversial podcaster, Joe Rogan, has attempted to popularize), we can embrace ignorance and set off into the wild unknown to uncover the Truth. Admittance of ignorance breaks the chain of adherence and frees you to wander.

Instead of seeing failure as a question of identity, we should see it as a step towards reality. After all, failure in itself carries a bit of the Truth. As inventor, Thomas Edison, famously quipped upon being asked about his failed experiments, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I've successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”

The Takeaway-

The culture of correctness online, brought by intellectual pride, is crippling science and shaming the joy of discovery. But, we don’t have to let it affect us. We can still take up our torches and explore our ignorance. It all begins with questions.

Not the question of “what did you learn,” but, like I.I. Rabi’s mom, “what did you ask?”

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And, that’s all folks! Thank you so much for reading! This is supposed to be the September edition of the newsletter even though it came out so late. There will be an October edition in the next few weeks which will hopefully release a bit sooner than this one did!

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