Do we need to bother about ignorance?

Many wise people hold that ignorance is our biggest problem. But the reality is that ignorance or the lack of knowledge is the least menacing compared to the other problems in the realm of epistemology. I would list them in the order of harm they cause, the most harmful comes first. 

1. Doctored knowledge - Ideologies, in its two variants – ecclesiastical and temporal, which substitute knowledges with make-believes or pseudo-reasoning, perpetuating themselves on the strength of indoctrination. These fanciful ideas find ready adherents among the vulnerable people or the dimwits.

2. Illusion of knowledge – Indoctrinated or ill educated persons as a result of bad education have this affliction. A brush with some knowledge sources gives such illusion too. And on the other end, there are people who are very well-read but in the absence of sufficient and correct training they are unable to handle the inputs they get. 

3. Lack of knowledge – This is the third category. People are not educated, have no access to knowledge-sources. They may seemingly talk inane things. But it is necessary to qualify this position. Knowledge is stratum related. What may be inanity for you is effective wisdom for some. 

I am a case of the third category but without the benefit of the caveat I have added. 

Niraj Kumar Jha

Social Media and the Pandemic

Thanks to the information and communications technology (ICT), everyone appears to be well-informed. The lack of information is not an issue. Some people, supposedly educated and well-positioned, are seen acting inappropriately, but it is not the problem of communication but of education. The ICT is the biggest defence against the scourge. In this context it is very pertinent to bring to the general notice that it is the liberal economic order, which has provided the media, the gadgets and enabled the people to avail these. Though making cutting edge technological commodities generally available is only one of the benefits of free markets. The biggest gift of a rationalist order, i.e, the liberal order, is democracy itself. The first response of a non-democratic order is to suppress the informaiton about a brewing crisis. And if it remains uncontained, a manageable crisis becomes explosive. Our faith in selves and freedoms are our strengths. The context of this post is that often calamitous times reactivate the collectivists and they try to gain by (mis)appropriating human vulnerablities.

Niraj Kumar Jha