This issue introduces not-knowing as a concept and argues for why we should care about it especially at this time in history. It's the opener for a book project and a monthly discussion series on InterIntellect about not-knowing that starts next Thursday (19 Jan 2023, 8pm CET).
thanks! the power of unintended consequences is one of those things that really highlights how increase in capacity needs to be accompanied by increase in wisdom for things to not go off the rails. on which also see: silicon valley technosalvationism.
Jan 13, 2023·edited Jan 13, 2023Liked by Vaughn Tan
A fascinating subject of not-knowing, although perhaps not-knowing means something slightly different to me. (What? I'm not quite sure just yet). The not knowing fascinated me for some time. An intentional and almost therapeutic ignorance.
You write about science and technology making us believe that we have knowledge and control greater than we really do. I work in digital technology. I design systems. My experience is constant feeling that there is so much more I should know. My experience appears to be the opposite to one you present. And that is what draws me to not-knowing as a solution. I think we need to build system and environments, both social and technical, where it is OK not to know. Where we can succeed without knowing everything. In fact, without knowing most of what there is to be known.
And to do that we need to get comfortable with not-knowing. Be happy to use only the knowledge we have, to learn only what's absolutely necessary and give up the control of everything else. All in safety, that the systems and society we have designed are going to work just fine without that control.
I don't think we are quite ready to let go. But we will have to.
this is a very good distinction to make — and i'll be clearer about it in the future!
my current view is that there are lots of kinds of not-knowing. what you describe is (i think) the kind of not-knowing that is about information you don't have yet but which you can get. and even for that kind of not-knowing, there is a point at which the cost of seeking and integrating the missing information becomes very clearly not worth the benefit you get from it. which is problematic when for technical or emotional reasons we become attached to knowing everything that is knowable.
there are also other kinds of not-knowing which we probably should address. the one that is most prominent is when we don't know how much we value particular outcomes relative to other outcomes. often we just take the value of a particular outcome for granted without interrogating the subjective assumptions underlying it. to me this is a type of not-knowing that is especially dangerous to be comfortable with. (note: i am not saying that we can be certain of our values, only that we should be clear about what we value by interrogating them explicitly and testing them — this is what the Boris workshop is intended to do.)
so yes i totally agree about creating systems and environments in which we recognise the different types of not-knowing we are experiencing, and become comfortable with being in some types of not-knowing for the right reasons while developing ways of dealing with the other types of not-knowing.
and yes we are totally not ready to let go! it's terrifying.
Love this. Resonates with my own journey. Love the three points especially actions having more power now. People still underestimate these.
thanks! the power of unintended consequences is one of those things that really highlights how increase in capacity needs to be accompanied by increase in wisdom for things to not go off the rails. on which also see: silicon valley technosalvationism.
A fascinating subject of not-knowing, although perhaps not-knowing means something slightly different to me. (What? I'm not quite sure just yet). The not knowing fascinated me for some time. An intentional and almost therapeutic ignorance.
You write about science and technology making us believe that we have knowledge and control greater than we really do. I work in digital technology. I design systems. My experience is constant feeling that there is so much more I should know. My experience appears to be the opposite to one you present. And that is what draws me to not-knowing as a solution. I think we need to build system and environments, both social and technical, where it is OK not to know. Where we can succeed without knowing everything. In fact, without knowing most of what there is to be known.
And to do that we need to get comfortable with not-knowing. Be happy to use only the knowledge we have, to learn only what's absolutely necessary and give up the control of everything else. All in safety, that the systems and society we have designed are going to work just fine without that control.
I don't think we are quite ready to let go. But we will have to.
this is a very good distinction to make — and i'll be clearer about it in the future!
my current view is that there are lots of kinds of not-knowing. what you describe is (i think) the kind of not-knowing that is about information you don't have yet but which you can get. and even for that kind of not-knowing, there is a point at which the cost of seeking and integrating the missing information becomes very clearly not worth the benefit you get from it. which is problematic when for technical or emotional reasons we become attached to knowing everything that is knowable.
there are also other kinds of not-knowing which we probably should address. the one that is most prominent is when we don't know how much we value particular outcomes relative to other outcomes. often we just take the value of a particular outcome for granted without interrogating the subjective assumptions underlying it. to me this is a type of not-knowing that is especially dangerous to be comfortable with. (note: i am not saying that we can be certain of our values, only that we should be clear about what we value by interrogating them explicitly and testing them — this is what the Boris workshop is intended to do.)
so yes i totally agree about creating systems and environments in which we recognise the different types of not-knowing we are experiencing, and become comfortable with being in some types of not-knowing for the right reasons while developing ways of dealing with the other types of not-knowing.
and yes we are totally not ready to let go! it's terrifying.