My brother is a famous chest specialist. One day he informed the relatives of a patient that he doubted if he would live longer than a year. The relatives became very hostile to my brother and boycotted him. The patient died a few months later.
Remembering this story was the impulse for me to share this post. It raised the question about knowledge avoidance when it does not appeal to us.
This is not a single case. Knowledge avoidance exists on a large scale. Examples include
- Smokers who avoid reading the warning on the box about the hazards of smoking
- Industries that do not want to believe the pollution they produce and deny its validity
- Heavy drinkers and drug users who do not want to hear about the risks they expose themselves to
Is ignorance a choice? Would people prefer to stay in the dark and not be enlightened by knowledge?
This is possible when our desires take hold of us no matter how harmful these desires are.
A Bias towards Ignorance
This bias towards ignorance has terrible consequences. To escape from knowledge and embrace ignorance has terrible consequences.
One major negative consequence is that humanity shall not work together to solve social problems or environmental problems.
A second sequence is the huge investment in research. What is the value of establishing the risk hazards of smoking, for example, if smokers ignore scientific findings? The same applies to environmental research.
A third reason is the financial burden to implement research findings. One recent example is Covid-19. Many people refused injections claiming that vaccinations have terrible side effects that lead to the infertility of men. How could they make this claim when vaccinations have barely been tested?
The above examples encourage the spread of ignorance over knowledge.
Is denied knowledge in these cases a source of power?
Please share your thoughts.
