Metaignorance | Hacker News Reader

Metaignorance

jeffreyellis.org

17 pointscwan10 comments

The idea isn't new [1], but I like the word he coined. Metaignorance is way more explicit that the "Dunning-Kruger effect". :-)

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

Ignorance already means this. Not having information about something is not ignorance, not realizing so is.

Exactly. I assumed that meta-ignorance would be about not realizing that not having the information about something is making you ignorant, but instead the author just gives examples of being ignorant. It's kind of ironic actually.

But the ignorance anedoctes he tells all follow some ignorance patterns. Metaignorance should be described by these ignorance patterns: the context, the problems and how their solution will be missed, the ignorant rational. These ignorance patterns are distinguished from anti-patterns as they describe the process by which the solution is missed instead of the erroneous solution.

This is the Dunning-Kruger effect:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect

This is all well and good, but what is the fix? I am aware that there is a lot of stuff I don't know that I don't know (boy is that a clumsy statement) but what steps to take to avoid the whole Dunning-Kruger effect? I don't want to deprecate myself, but at the same time, how do I go about finding out what it is I don't know I don't know? (!?!?)

I can't say the term is all that great, but man, the anecdotes are written hilariously.

Donald Rumsfeld famously put it this way:

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know.

There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.

But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don't know.

This fellow's 'metaignorance' describes people who have a surprisingly large number of 'unknown unknowns'.

Of course, his major problem is the one he left out: the unknown knowns. The things "known" that really aren't so.

"The metaignorant are blissfully ignorant of their own lack of knowledge, and consequently are capable of wreaking far more havoc (or at least annoyance) than the merely ignorant."

This reminds me of this one Alaskan lady who dresses up like Tina Fey...

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