Is it better to admit not knowing than to reach for an explanation that could explain anything?
From 2021 through 2024 Hank holds that we must be able to say we don't know, and that filling that space with an all-purpose explanation such as aliens is always a mistake. John in 2022 praises a museum director's admission that we cannot know what is correct as a sentence he should say more often.
Axis: admit not knowing and leave the question open ... reach for an explanation that fills the gap
Positions by date: 6 records in 6 videos. The position did not change in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-11-01 | first on record | John praises the museum director's statement that we cannot know what is correct or incorrect as a great sentence he should utter more often. | Is This Painting Upside Down? 00:02:26 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-01-19 | first on record | Hank says we as a species don't know the answer to most questions, and that accepting we don't have those answers, and that our simple explanations are flawed, is possibly the most important part. | YOU ARE WRONG! 00:03:30 |
| 2021-05-28 | restate | Second and most important: we must be able to say we don't know what something is without immediately explaining it; instant explanations from our heads come from biases, confusion and defaulting to something that explains anything, not from data. | Aliens 00:02:42 |
| 2022-10-21 | restate | Hank says that here everyone who believes their answer is right is wrong; the only people who are right are those who know they don't know. | This 'Math Test' Changed How I See Humanity 00:01:27 |
| 2024-07-19 | restate | Hank says the fourth, definitely true option is that we don't know; it is powerful but the hardest thing to live inside, and people rarely do it in public or on social media. | The Assassination Attempt and the Comfort of Certainty 00:06:54 |
| 2024-12-20 | restate | Hank says that in the space where 'I don't know' should live, people put aliens, and that it is always a mistake to treat 'I don't know' as a reason to believe you know. | Fine, I'll Talk About the Drones… 00:13:38 |