on_ignorance

["Eduardo J. Dubuc" <edubuc@dm.uba.ar>]

Concerning certain sarcastic answers given in this list to some trivial
questions (trivial for the expert, but not trivial for the ignorant), I just
read the following (I ignore the author):

"Productive stupidity means being ignorant by choice. Focusing on important
questions puts us in the awkward position of being ignorant. One of the
beautiful things about science is that it allows us to bumble along, getting
it wrong time after time, and feel perfectly fine as long as we learn
something each time. No doubt, this can be difficult for students who are
accustomed to getting the answers right. No doubt, reasonable levels of
confidence and emotional resilience help, but I think scientific education
might do more to ease what is a very big transition: from learning what
other people once discovered to making your own discoveries. The more
comfortable we become with being stupid, the deeper we will wade into the
unknown and the more likely we are to make big discoveries."



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