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Towering Mountains of Ignorance

2014-07-25 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:52 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning · mode: Personal essay

Hank argues that we confuse thinking with knowing: opinions on complex social questions are value-based guesses that people tie to their sense of self, and the truest thing he can say is 'I don't know'.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Shouted 'I don't know' opening: Mario, guitar shapes, Iggy Azalea

  • ★★★ Hank declares that saying 'I don't know' is liberating and calls himself a towering mountain of ignorance. (playful) — 00:00:04

    “I am a towering mountain of ignorance!”

  • ★ Hank lists things he doesn't know: why Mario is the best-known video game character, why guitars are shaped as they are, why Iggy Azalea is popular. (playful) — 00:00:09

00:00:20 — We define what happened as the reason it happened: the Harry Potter example

  • ★ Hank thinks he knows a lot of things, yet he is surprisingly unhelpful when he plays pub trivia with his friends. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:20
  • ★★★ Hank says he doesn't know the vast majority of things, not only because of their sheer number but because of the number of things that affect them. — 00:00:25
  • ★★★ Hank argues we are taught that everything has a reason, so we observe what happened and define the thing that happened as the reason it happened. — 00:00:35
  • ★★ Hank's example: explaining Harry Potter's popularity by its school setting, good writing and a desire for wizards amounts to saying it is popular because it's Harry Potter. (playful) — 00:00:44 · Harry Potter (book series)

00:01:10 — Thinking vs knowing: value-based opinions on Syria, jobs, cell phones are useful guesses; nobody is correct

  • ★★★ Hank is glad humans want to understand the world, which yields great things, but thinks we often mix up thinking something with knowing it. (hedged) — 00:01:10
  • ★★ Hank says everyone is now expected to have opinions on solving the Syrian Civil War, creating US jobs and cell phones' effects on youth; he knows he doesn't know, yet everyone else seems to. — 00:01:24 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank argues people base opinions on their values, not on the best course of action or explanation; that is fine, but it might be silly to think values turned into a vision find the best course. (hedged) — 00:01:44
  • ★★ Hank says these guesses are tremendously useful: we convert amalgamated opinions into reality, the terrifying beauty of culture and specifically democracy. — 00:02:02
  • ★★★ Hank says opinions are just guesses: no one knows the correct course of action, we will never take it because there are too many options, and nobody's opinions are correct. — 00:02:13

00:02:27 — Opinions tied to the self; just be friends; our perceived world is a necessary lie; I don't know

  • ★★★ Hank says it is impossible not to tie opinions to one's sense of self, so people defend their guesses as if defending their lives, which makes some topics impossible to discuss. — 00:02:27
  • ★★★ Hank suggests that with such people the best course may be just to be friends, and even to ask them about what they've built, since it is immensely valuable to them. (hedged) — 00:02:50
  • ★★★ Hank says the world as we perceive it is a lie we tell ourselves out of necessity, not deception; a useful construction that lets us do amazing things. — 00:03:01
  • ★★ Hank concludes that the truest thing he can say is 'I don't know'. — 00:03:16

00:03:28 — Sign-off and tongue-tied outtake

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank clarifies he is not saying we know nothing; on social, cultural and economic questions we really don't, since real-world experiments are hard to run. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank grants that some people guess far better than others because they know the situation - what is and is not possible, as in creating an independent Palestinian state - and good businesspeople find good courses by understanding their customers, markets and employees. — video description
  • ★★★ Hank dislikes the idea that everyone must hold an opinion on everything that matters and cling to it as part of their identity; he would rather discuss such questions in terms of values, where opinions come from anyway - like creating jobs while promoting one's own values. — video description
  • ★★★ On how to end a war, feed hungry people or eliminate poverty, Hank admits he doesn't know and defers to the experts, who know far more than he does - and sees nothing wrong with that. — video description

Threads in this video

  • restate · Do big problems have simple solutions? — Hank says opinions on questions like ending the Syrian Civil War or creating US jobs are value-based guesses: no one knows the correct course of action, because there are too many options. (00:02:16)

Mentioned

Central: Intellectual humility · narrative fallacy

Also: democracy · Harry Potter (book series) · Iggy Azalea · map–territory relation · Mario · motivated reasoning · Syrian civil war · United States

Only in the description or credits: expert · Palestine

Also centred on Intellectual humility: Does Human Life Have Real Meaning? · How's the Water? · The Assassination Attempt and the Comfort of Certainty · Fine, I'll Talk About the Drones…

Also centred on narrative fallacy: YOU ARE WRONG! · Looking for Alaska Five Years After the Printz Award · Influence, Airports, and the Nerdfighter Book Club · On Mental Illness (and the end of Pizzamas)

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