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Acknowledging Reality
Mar. 24th, 2024 06:15 pmI don't think lack of intelligence is what generally prevents people from acknowledging reality. I think a much bigger obstacle to acknowledging reality is because reality often challenges our preconceived assumptions in uncomfortable ways. Because reality is messy and doesn't neatly validate our value systems or our understanding of it.
I think another big challenge to acknowledging reality is an unwillingness to acknowledge gaps in one's own knowledge, which will always be vast seas of the unknown amidst tiny islands of knowledge.
I think a person can be highly sensible and insightful about some things while deeply overestimating their own knowledge and ability in others. Sometimes we don't know what we don't know. Indeed I think this is all of us sometimes. I think there's a degree to which a lack of awareness of our own deficiencies can be deeply ingrained, both by society and even to some degree by the nature of our minds themselves.
I think the unstandable fear of the unknown can cause us to substitute a false knowledge where none exists as a method of easing that fear so that we can get on with the necessary actions of life rather than staying frozen in uncertainty. I think in some cases this over-assurance is an attempt by our own minds to spur us to necessary action even in the face of the unknown.
I also think the desire or need for societal status can cause us to believe we have knowledge that we don't. I think there are ways to improve at this though. One way is to stop believing that there's such a thing as being generally 'smart' about everything. I tend to think we're all good at some things, but our understanding of our abilities are often filtered through the lens of societal values, which may greatly over or under-estimate those abilities due to how it arbitrarily assigns them value.
For example, I love math, and from what I can tell I tend to be better at it than average. Still, this doesn't mean that I am good at all math, or even equally good at the same kind of math in different contexts. I've also seen people who hate math and who are 'bad at it' demonstrate quite astute mathematical ability in the right contexts--the math-hating writer who employs flawless logic in an argument, or the cook who can effortlessly estimate the correct proportions for a dish without a recipe but struggles with calculating fractions on paper.
Reality is complicated. Sometimes we don't know what we don't know, or even, sometimes we don't know what we do know. I think the best understanding of reality comes from acknowledging that uncertainty.
I think another big challenge to acknowledging reality is an unwillingness to acknowledge gaps in one's own knowledge, which will always be vast seas of the unknown amidst tiny islands of knowledge.
I think a person can be highly sensible and insightful about some things while deeply overestimating their own knowledge and ability in others. Sometimes we don't know what we don't know. Indeed I think this is all of us sometimes. I think there's a degree to which a lack of awareness of our own deficiencies can be deeply ingrained, both by society and even to some degree by the nature of our minds themselves.
I think the unstandable fear of the unknown can cause us to substitute a false knowledge where none exists as a method of easing that fear so that we can get on with the necessary actions of life rather than staying frozen in uncertainty. I think in some cases this over-assurance is an attempt by our own minds to spur us to necessary action even in the face of the unknown.
I also think the desire or need for societal status can cause us to believe we have knowledge that we don't. I think there are ways to improve at this though. One way is to stop believing that there's such a thing as being generally 'smart' about everything. I tend to think we're all good at some things, but our understanding of our abilities are often filtered through the lens of societal values, which may greatly over or under-estimate those abilities due to how it arbitrarily assigns them value.
For example, I love math, and from what I can tell I tend to be better at it than average. Still, this doesn't mean that I am good at all math, or even equally good at the same kind of math in different contexts. I've also seen people who hate math and who are 'bad at it' demonstrate quite astute mathematical ability in the right contexts--the math-hating writer who employs flawless logic in an argument, or the cook who can effortlessly estimate the correct proportions for a dish without a recipe but struggles with calculating fractions on paper.
Reality is complicated. Sometimes we don't know what we don't know, or even, sometimes we don't know what we do know. I think the best understanding of reality comes from acknowledging that uncertainty.