How do we know what we know?
As a kid, I was obsessed with knowing, always millions of thoughts traveling at the speed of light through my head. I used to pester my mother as she worked, shouting questions through an open wall window connecting the living room.
Can the moon catch on fire?
Why can’t elbows bend in both directions?
Why does my father live so far away?
Why does my sister only get new clothes?
Why do you work two jobs?
My mother lacked loquacious tendencies and retorted;
‘look things up in the encyclopedia,” there was no internet,
“clean your room,” questions were a sign of too much time on your hands.
“ask your father”, knowing he was never here
Me, that curious kid, who always had my own ideas about things. Information went in, and my mind deftly dissected the weight of each word. Some people filled my mind with empty calories, meandering thoughts, circular speech, and stories that had nothing to do with anything, feeding me full of mindless potato chips.
In my twenties, my obsession with knowing grew. I continued to read, spent little time on the internet, listened to older people from whom I learned that, there are many things I still did not know.
I came to understand, there is a whole world of things, we don’t know, and we don’t even know that we don’t know it yet.
This world is saturated with digital media fat, countless empty calories consumed. People, dead to the world, open the their internet browser, type, hit enter, and a few profit seeking clicks later, a stream of data passively delivered into one’s mind. But how do we know, which answer out of the 8.3 million results is accurate? If any are.
I am no longer that kid obsessed with knowing everything. There is so much we don’t know, and even more that we don’t even know we don’t know. It is pointless to be overly confident about anything anymore.
The thing about true knowledge is, it is not only based on facts, but also sense, perceptions, emotions, faith, reason, and memories. All of this, interpreted by an irrational human mind, which is why there is so much bullshit. All of us contributes our own share. Bullshit is more an enemy of truth than lies are.
Now, I am obsessed with recognizing bullshit and avoid being consumed by it.
