Ignorance and its Price

Quote from Isaac Asimov: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”

Zowie! Think on those words. Let them sink in. Before you make any conclusions, think also on this: Asimov was born in 1920 and died in 1992. He was an American, an immigrant who wrote 500 books covering a broad range of intellectual inquiry. He was often considered a scientist but also wrote entertaining novels, mysteries and scientific essays. Prolific writing in an abundant life.  

It is hard work to study, consider myriad inputs, come to an understanding on how something works; whether that something is simple or complex, piecing together a solid understanding takes time, wonderment, research, testing hypotheses and making conclusions. Then sharing the conclusions. So others might benefit from them, or correct an overlooked error. Improve on the idea. Press forward to an even broader grasp of the subject matter and how it works on other areas of life and thinking. Hard work. Indeed. 

But ignorance is easy. Not cheap! Ignorance allows many mistakes to happen. So much damage to repair and things to replace. All stemming from ignorance. So easy maybe; cheap no. 

Isaac Asimov understood that. He delved into some of the most complex puzzles of our time. He learned to laugh and joke about them. He got up close and personal with them, nudged them, even poked them. Got familiar with the puzzles. Wondered about them; fed his curiosity until he began to form answers. Answers that helped explain the puzzles and make them work for our benefit. 

Sometimes the simple idea is its own answer. But rarely is it universal in application. Life is more complex than that. That’s where work comes into play. And inquisitiveness. The process. Inventing. Research. Trying out and changing conclusions. All leading to understanding. That leads to more understanding. And new ideas and more invention. 

Process. It takes patience and discipline. It takes openness to varying inputs. It requires and feeds on a hunger for knowing, understanding. Thank God there are people who love this challenge. They are special. They bring such richness to the rest of us.  

To those not interested in this work, it’s OK; just don’t denigrate it. 

There are those who don’t trust this work. They don’t understand it so they mistrust it. They may even feel that such work fulfills a secret agenda or sneaky ends. This is generally what is termed ‘anti-intellectualism.’ Simply put, it is being against the effort to understand an unknown because we don’t know the persons involved or their motives.

Pity. They throw the baby out with the bath water. Because they didn’t see the baby in the murky waste water. The work to perceive is difficult; it takes concentration and time. It is work. Some avoid it at their peril. 

As do we all in our nation if we allow laziness to become a barrier to understanding or comprehending larger ideas. We need those ideas to survive and prosper. We need innovation and problem solving. If we simplify too much, we lose what is important. We lose the baby; the dirty water is gone but so is the object we were caring for!

Like economics. Like energy prices. Like job creation. Like the high cost of arts education with so little reward (not!).  

These things rarely are as simple as we make them out to be. Energy is costly for two reasons: it is scarce but we need it; and it is often costly to produce. Both are needed in the equation to understand it. But scarcity also requires us to consider alternatives that would then alter the supply side of the price equation. Reduce the need for a particular energy source, and its price goes down. Move the need to another energy source. Keep doing this until we create an affordable equilibrium of supply and demand. Simply focusing on supply of one energy source only bids up the cost.

‘Drill baby drill’ is not the answer to high gasoline prices. Drive less. Exercise more. Use different fuels. Improve efficiency of fuel using devices. Those all affect demand. And improve remaining supplies. 

Oil is finite. Its supply is dwindling. As supply becomes more dear, prices rise. As threats to producing oil increase, fear of shortages affect the psychology of price. And price rises.  

This process broadens the problem and provides more options to solve it. That’s an intellectual process. We need it; more of it. And we need to appreciate it. Because it will find answers that the opposite view is blind to. Because that simple-ness or laziness hides the work that needs to be done.

If we could leave it at that we’d be OK; but we can’t. The fools have glorified their laziness into a right and political ideal. Ludicrous? Yes. But also a shame.

March 23, 2012