Learning, knowing and ignorance

[Brian W]

Probably the biggest lesson I have learned in life is the more I learn, the less certain I am of just about everything. Learning seems to produce more questions than answers because everything I thought I knew eventually gets challenged by new information.

 

[beancounter]

This is true. It's been found that the more you know about a subject, the more you realize how much about the subject you don't know.

The opposite is true as well, where people with minimal knowledge on a subject think they know more than they actually do.

If I can find the article, I'll post it.

 

[Lou]

Isn't there some slogan thats goes along the lines
the more you know the more you know you don't know.

There is an ad on YouTube - I can't remember what it is for but it has that famous guy who is sort of Carl Sagan's replacement. and he says something like there is a fine line between knowing enough that you think you are right and knowing enough to know that you are wrong. or something like that.

 

[beancounter]

Neil Degrassi Tyson

 

[Lou]

Neil Degrassi Tyson

can you provide the quote?

 

[silva]

Isn't there some slogan thats goes along the lines
the more you know the more you know you don't know.

There is an ad on YouTube - I can't remember what it is for but it has that famous guy who is sort of Carl Sagan's replacement. and he says something like there is a fine line between knowing enough that you think you are right and knowing enough to know that you are wrong. or something like that.

 

[silva]

Not sure how to word this, but it seems nowadays more than ever before, people are lead to beliefs based on what they want to believe, more than any science or other kind of proof. It's like they're hunting for examples they can blame.
My co worker will often start stories that I think are going one way, then she ends with a conclusion that doesn't even fit! Today she started about the blood clots they blamed on the vaccine were the same percent as the population in general--and I'm going along with it--then she twists it into maybe they're just the beginning and who knows how many more, or what else they can cause. A bunch of other talk I found myself at a lack of words for

 

[Lou]

Not sure how to word this, but it seems nowadays more than ever before, people are lead to beliefs based on what they want to believe, more than any science or other kind of proof. It's like they're hunting for examples they can blame.

Confirmation Bias. It came up in a political podcast just recently. but I think it comes up in health and nutrition A LOT.

How many times have we read that eggs are good for you, or salt, or sugar, or fat? Most of us think, wait the can't be right. but a lot of people go, oh good. I really like those things.

Sometimes if you read the whole article you find a different conclusion that what the head line said. but its the head lines that sell the magazine.

I think its something that we all do but you're right - it seems more prevalent now. (the word was only coined in 1977.) I have to admit that I am frequently guilty of confirmation bias. However I know that and sometimes I can self correct.

One famous example is Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 study that linked the MMR vaccine to autism. It was retracted from the British Medical Journal in 2010 after evidence that Wakefield manipulated and ignored much of his data. Wakefield’s confirmation bias fueled his desire to establish a link to regressive autism – a disproven claim that still affects the medical community today.​

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Social media users are faced with an overwhelming number of news sources, which vary in their credibility. Fake news takes advantage of social media by using sensationalist headlines and making unproven claims. Readers see these untrue articles, which align with their biased perspectives, and repost or share them, further spreading the misinformation.​

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Confirmation Bias Examples in Real Life

What is confirmation bias, and do you have it? Read these examples of how confirmation bias can affect how you see the world – and how you can avoid it.

examples.yourdictionary.com

Confirmation bias - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Confirmation Bias In Psychology: Definition & Examples

www.simplypsychology.org

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[The Master Of Design]

Probably the biggest lesson I have learned in life is the more I learn, the less certain I am of just about everything. Learning seems to produce more questions than answers because everything I thought I knew eventually gets challenged by new information.

I would say keep learning. When I don't learn nothing seems to change but when I am learning the world becomes a different kind of place. It makes you realize that the way you think is the way your world is. I discovered so many beautiful things while I am learning. I even moved to Bali just by thinking of it first. It all starts with an idea but I can not possibly explain everything to you in one message, so just keep learning

Ps. Sometimes you gotta also unlearn some things that come from your parents or society.