Everybody gets told to write about what they know. The trouble with many of us is that at the earlier stages of life we think we know everything- or to put it more usefully, we are often unaware of the scope and structure of our ignorance.
Thomas Pynchon
This reminds me of the ultra-high res photo of Mount Everest. When zoomed out, you can see the entire thing and several surrounding peaks. But when zoomed fully in, you can clearly see tents at various camps and even people hiking up the mountain. It gives you a wonderful sense of scale when zooming back and forth… And a more accurate sense of just how insignificant we humans actually are. We lose sight of just how big this world is, and just how small we are on it. Then when you think that this world is just a tiny little… Read more »
The technology available to us personally today would seem like magic to our ancestors from a couple of hundred years ago. Jason which photo here reminds you of the Everest high res?
It wasn’t a photo. I’m sorry I was unclear… it was the quote above: “… we are often unaware of the scope and structure of our ignorance.” It simply made me think of the sense I got while looking at that photo of Everest. We, as humans, are truly insignificant in relation to the creation around us. We lose sight of that fact all too easily.
Ah, I see your point.
And the older we get, the more we realize that we know nothing.
One thing I’ll admit I knew nothing about was how the Republican party really did business. But in a way I think I’ve finally learned a thing or two. Too bad it had to be the hard way. But Chemist, I think what I learned is actually something that won’t have to be unlearned. And the thing I learned is don’t assume anyone is going to do anything for you. If you want it done, do it yourself.
Ah. I had that one hammered into me before I was old enough to vote.
Quantifying all the things that I don’t know that I don’t know is too vast an exploit to even contemplate. A more manageable task would be cataloging the small list of things I actually do know.