What's going on? Normally, we expect society to progress, amassing deeper scientific understanding and basic facts every year. Knowledge only increases, right?
Robert Proctor doesn't think so. A historian of science at Stanford, Proctor points out that when it comes to many contentious subjects, our usual relationship to information is reversed: Ignorance increases.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Ignorance can be bliss?
Are you an agnotologist?
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1 comments:
An excellent article. I especially liked the line that differentiates between arguing ABOUT the facts, and arguing over WHAT the facts are. It is getting easier and easier for people to find a source of information that is slanted towards what they already believe, which is not healthy. Democrats and Republicans should be more willing to read/listen to other points of view. This reminds me of David Mamet's explanation of the difference between entertainment and art: Entertainment shows you ideas and stories that you already agree with - whereas art challenges what you believe, and forces you to think of them in a new way.
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