Wednesday 19 March 2014

On not knowing.

I began drafting this post before the disappearance of flight MH370. And that gives not knowing a terrible meaning.

I had planned to remind you what it was like being six, and the teacher asked you something and you thought and thought and knew you should know the answer but somehow you just didn't, so you made it up. At the time it made more sense to get the answer wrong than admit you didn't know.

Too often it feels as of no one has grown up.

When politicians make it up it goes something like this: I can't tell you that right now, but what I can tell you is ...

Newspapers do it differently: eat less butter, eat more butter; working mothers help children be more independent, working mothers impede the development of healthy attachments in small children ... They take a research study, read the conclusions, precis that - because the alternative is suggesting that there is conflicting evidence.

There are cultures in which saying 'I don't know' is shameful - if you are lost and ask the way, it's best to ask three people and go with the majority as it's likely that someone will have made up the directions.

But not knowing - everyday not-knowing - is the cornerstone of curiosity. And without curiosity how can we learn? Without curiosity there are no new ideas. Without curiosity we stagnate.

But not knowing can be uncomfortable. It reminds of us teachers, of everyone looking at us, of not-knowing being the equivalent of ignorance.

I still think that not-knowing is often an opportunity, and that being honest about it is challenging, and can be fun. It can send us rushing to our bookshelves, or to Google.

But then the terrible not-knowing for the friends and family of those on board flight MH370 - their not-knowing is more painful than breathing.

8 comments:

  1. Not knowing puts us at our most vulnerable ...but that is part of the human condition. I cannot imagine what it must be like for those poor souls awaiting news of their families. My nearest brush has been waiting for the results of biopsies and histology lab tests. Before the internet, not knowing was for more bearable, maybe. Now we think we can press a button and the knowledge will be there on a screen. It isn't always so.

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    1. Exactly - waiting for test results, exams results etc - it's the being out of control that's hard.

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  2. Not knowing…yes, as you say, the cornerstone of search, research and discovery. Curiosity goes hand-in-glove with not knowing. But as you say, not knowing when loved ones go missing is too terrible. I have friends whose son went missing in strange circumstances several years ago. They still don't know.

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    1. I think missing people is the hardest not-knowing of all. To imagine those we've loved since they were tiny being 'somewhere out there' - that is truly terrible.

      And so very different from curiosity.

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  3. Not knowing when we're meant to know is worse for me than not knowing and not being supposed to know anyway.

    Good post. Thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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    1. You managed in one sentence what I was struggling to say in a blogpost. Thank you!!

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  4. That plane disappearance is truly horrific and the kind of not knowing that everyone dreads with all their heart. I have a friend who tries to learn everything she can on the basis that knowledge is power but even she will admit that not knowing is fine. It's knowing where to find the answers that's the important thing.

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  5. It has gripped me too. It's a long time since I've sat up late at night surfing the internet in a vain search for more information. Extraordinary. Dreadful.

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