About ignorance

Wikipedia defined ignorance as "...the state in which a person lacks knowledge and is unaware of various issues...". My first impression was that of disagreement. I've always thought that ignorance is a state of being ignorant, as in not desiring a higher level of understanding even when offered. Apparently that was quite ignorant on my part.

I've only yesterday finished reading a critique about modern scientific practices in regards to the "dreaded peer review" specifically in the area of the quantum theory. This was really only the last step in a line of books I've read on the subject over the period of about three years, and even though I have no choice than to openly admit that my math skills are monumentally below of those required to completely grasp the complexity of the currently accepted and promoted theory, I do not feel one bit ashamed in doing so. From what I've been led to believe only about a handful of people alive today are suspected to be able to anyways.

This makes me question the validity of what is offered as the currently standing model of something that is supposed to be the ultimate step in explaining the inner relationships of all the know forces which govern the Universe itself. The holy grail of physics. A unified theory that explains everything. As much as I am left baffled after learning that there is a theoretical requirement for the existence of multiple additional dimension in order to be able to provide adequate mathematical mechanisms for the solution of the equations, the layman in me is starting to wonder if we --collectively as a human race-- would not be better off if that handful of people would just give us a break and admit to the simple fact that "We don't know."

There should really be no shame attached to such an admittance and it would in no way diminish the intellectual capabilities of the theoretical physicists. Their egos on the other hand… Perhaps it is just me, but I tend to respect people who admit to not understanding things at once. It seems only natural. No one knows everything, and it is foolish at best to expect that anyone will be able to understand unfamiliar concepts the first time they’re introduced.

Our education system is partly to blame for this conditioning and our psychological addiction to correctness. The current grading system is apparently incapable or unwilling to discern between the lack of understanding, lack of intellectual capability for understanding and the lack of desire or willpower to understand. This is a most unfortunate state of affairs as scientific progress is inherently impossible without some initial level of ignorance. If curiosity is the father of science than ignorance must be its mother. Does the desire to comprehend something not stem from it’s initial non-uderstanding?
You, the reader, might at this time be starting to wonder, what the point I am trying to make might be.

“I don’t know.”
…And there’s nothing wrong with that.


Kind regards, M.

Ignorance is the lack of knowledge, education or awareness
Public education is at fault for this condition. At least when I was growing up it was obvious that only the smarter children were challenged to aquire more knowledge. The children who were less intelligent simply sat at a table with like children. Now the public school systems simply sends these students to a vo tech school to learn a trade which many never use.

The scores of achievement tests across the nation has fallen and continues to do so. That tells me alot about teachers of this day and times. They are not so educated themselves and educations is simply paid for and almost anyone can teach after a Bachelors Degree.

None of my son's teachers ever taught the students how to punctuate and capitalize and he was a straight A student all of his life. When he wrote a paper, it looked like someone wasn't very intelligent when in fact he was and is intelligent. I questioned a teacher and she told me that I should look at some of the other students papers.

Now, I am not answering you question as regard to Quantum Physics as I am ignorant of the issues regarding that subject.

When ignorance is willful, you call it "stubbornness".