Do you really know what you think you do?
Are you thinking your knowledge is perfect?
Well…
Think not.
As I was casually browsing the internet, I came across an article on Wikipedia. At first, this article was dedicated to a man named “Alan Alexander MacMasters”, who, according to the article, had invented the electric bread toaster.
Many websites took inspiration from the article and created biographical pages about MacMasters and his legacy. One school even conducted a fun activity where they made bread slices with MacMasters’ face on them. Things continued this way until 2022, when a 15 year old boy researching the article caused the article to be renamed to “The Alan MacMasters Hoax”. I’ll leave you to figure out what the boy had discovered (hint: the older article was entirely satirical)!
Prior to its falsification, it was cited by numerous publications and had turned MacMasters into a local celebrity in the United Kingdom. But something else interested me most when I learned about the MacMasters article: those that were curious enough to search up “who invented the electric toaster” anytime between 2012 and 2022 would have learned that man named Alan MacMasters was the inventor. They could then internalize this and declare they now objectively knew who the inventor was. Assuming they don’t Google it again later, they could end up leading the rest of their lives with this misinformation.
So let me ask you:
How real is your knowledge?
For me, this is a difficult question to answer, since all the information I know right now is by no means information I learned today. And much of that information is of such a manner that I could be entirely wrong about it, and I would be none the wiser. Many influencers in modern-day society spread misinformation this way — they believe they know what is right, and once they think they know something, they refuse to debate it. Once they have given up in the pursuit of refining that knowledge, no amount of logic will get between them and what they believe to be true. To avoid this, one must have an inquisitive mindset.
An inquisitive mindset? What is that?
Well, a month ago, I published another entry about this. For those who don’t want to read that, I can summarize it briefly as a mindset where a person is constantly challenging their knowledge, beliefs, and identity. One remains curious about what they see, observe, think, and imagine. They remain curious and fascinated by the world around them and the world within them. They never accept anything before first questioning it, since that may lead to incorrect knowledge. Even after they have internalized something, they continue to turn it over and over in their brain like soneone turning a coin over and over in their hand. They make amends to their thinking when they find fit, and knowledge to them is not a state, but rather a journey.
As good as it sounds, this mindset is a double-edged sword.
When one constantly challenges their thinking, they will eventually end up in a situation where they cannot be confident in any knowledge whatsoever. This actually happened to me earlier this year, when I began questioning the most simple things, like the reason I’m alive and why I must do anything. Let’s call this horrible phenomenon the “trap of uncertainty”. Any inference, observation, or opinion one has on this world can be discredited due to the argument that things could have changed, or that one could, in theory, have it all wrong and not be aware of it. The problem arises since without any knowledge whatsoever, one cannot live. I’ll leave you to figure out why — it’s quite straightforward. Due to the phenomenon, we are forced to accept certain facts as objectively correct and stop questioning them, right?
Put another way, how is one to remain inquisitive without falling into the trap of uncertainty?
The true reason one can never have foolproof knowledge is simple: it is a form of perfection. And perfection — as philosophers have known for millennia — is an impossibility. So while it is important to be learning continuously, it is important to understand that this cannot turn into an obsession, and henceforth, one can never obtain perfect knowledge. Many folks in modern society act as if what they know is absolute, but what they don’t realize is that they, like everyone else, can be wrong sometimes. While having extensive knowledge is a wonderful thing, it is important not to become stuck in the trap of developing an attachment to it. In other words, present your knowledge proudly, but always seek to question and improve it.
Like many other things in life, don’t give up on your quest to improve your knowledge. Never call it a day and say you know something, closing your mind to every other viewpoint as incorrect. Because the truth is, as much as you think you know something objectively, you really don’t. There could always be something that you don’t know yet. Nobody’s understanding of something is final.
Some people just think theirs is.
And with that, I conclude this blog entry.
Thank you,
-Vishal Janamanchi