Our next rule comes from an observation I made at the Ohio State Fair this weekend. In a moment when I was by myself, waiting for my youngest daughter who was on a ride, I watched the people around me. As much as I am a great believer in the fundamental equality and worth of all people, I sometimes despair at what I see. I wonder, with the coming age of technical advancement far beyond all that we've achieved in the past, if the "digital divide" will be made real, a true gulf and separation into a new species, with the old following the road of our cousin, Australopithecus, Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons. Or worse, that Homo Sapiens survive, subservient and enslaved by our successor race.
What makes me despair? Naivete. Sit and watch the crowd go by. Do they know how the universe functions, how it came to be? Do they know our 20,000 year history, why we distrust our neighbor, how the economy works, who makes the news? Do they know what lies ahead, what is possible?
I may not know all of these things, but I do know the limits of my knowledge and work at finding the answers - or at least where to go when I need an answer. But what of all those who don't know, don't want to know, or think that they do and refuse any question of their beliefs?
"The state or quality of being inexperienced or unsophisticated, especially in being artless, credulous, or uncritical."
Why are so many people so clueless? The bottom reason, because it is easier and less painful. Easier to follow than to lead. And if you wish to be followed, it is easier for the mass to be simple, unquestioning. Those that question things are dangerous.
It is so difficult for a child to say, "There is so much I don't know." The typical, or perhaps stereotypical teenage reaction is to assume that no one has every experienced what he or she is currently thinking or feeling. So few realize that every one that has gone before walks the same road, eyes open or closed.
So how to defeat naivete? Skepticism, not cynicism. Question everything, but do not assume that everyone or everything is aligned against you. True enemies are rare and valuable.
Use these rules of thumb:
- Find others that have gone before you and study them.
- Read outside your areas of interest (someone else may have solved your problem, but not in your terms)
- Librarians are more useful than philosophers.
- Anyone or anything that claims to have all the answers is probably wrong about almost everything.
- Your ideas and plans will be better by tempering. Some things don't sound as unique when you say them out loud.
