Ignorance

Reminiscing about the old days with a friend, we talked of how life was easier and simpler—living by the day, not worrying about what to do next week, month or year. There was less to concern ourselves with. Decisions were usually taken by the ‘more informed’ adults. Those were the days we had no major responsibilities and no one depending on us for nearly anything. Mind you, I’m a 20-year-old talking about my primary school days.

I asked myself, “Why made the old days so good?” In particular, what makes today “bad”? Is it just more responsibilities and lesser freedom to actually do what we want to do?

Tougher education? Are today’s theories and concepts more difficult for us than numbers and letters are for a kid? Today, if I’m taught something whose significance I cannot grasp—probably vocabulary and math to a kid—I’d be terrified. Tougher work? This point absolutely works. Though I’m still as much a student as I was back then, I am, now, expected to intern at places; gain experience; do co- and extra-curricular activities; apportion time to self, study, friends and family and whatnot. I must say these are not as enjoyable and fulfilling as going out to play with your friends as a kid. Also, you are assigned more chores as you become more capable, and I find that unpleasant.

Lesser time? More capabilities mean more work and, thus, less free time. But is it, really? I reach home from my internship (which occupies the entirety of my university “vacation”) at 8 pm. However, I didn’t understand the value or grasp the actual length of time I was wasting at home before assigning that timeslot to GRE studies. Money? As we grow up, we are eventually expected to at least manage our own finances. Asking for money is difficult and embarrassing. It is but natural to go from being a consumer to a provider.

Often in reality, ignorance is bliss for one party while the other suffers. Here’s an example from my life as a hostelite which is now of little use: A certain pizza delivery company in the area guaranteed a 30-minute-delivery or ₹ 300 off. We systematically exploited their app-based delivery system to score free pizzas for about 6 months till they improved their delivery by astounding proportions. We knew the loopholes, they didn’t. We were happy, they weren’t.

Another aspect is religion. Instead of labelling the gaps in the knowledge about the beginning of everything and such as ignorance or a shortcoming, does making up another story as a cover-up really satisfy people? They’re not happy when you try to question that story—I’ve tried.

Moving on towards lighter examples, if you could call it that, [spoilers ahead] the story of Attack on Titan by Isayama Hajime starts off with an ignorant and happy humanity. This illusion is shattered and reveals not only the terrors of their world, but later uncovers that they’ve been believing in an alternate reality. The same is true for the other side. As they learn more about their world, the more they question their superiors, their surroundings, and themselves too.

An encounter earlier in life mentioned that the more we know, the more we know about what we don’t know. Imagine a circle in the infinity of knowledge and information. As you amass more, the circle expands but its circumference increases too. In this sense, learning to reduce ignorance is a paradox in itself.

As you learn and know more, you grow. You’re burdened (or you burden yourself) with an increasing number of things. More restrictions suffocate your will. Freedom is, apparently, restricted. Back to Attack on Titan [spoiler], the people who know the “truth” aren’t allowed to reveal it. Think of spies and various negotiators. They have to be very careful with how they react to any sort of news. Just having some information with which you can’t do anything is also terrible. [Spoiler] Think of Douglas Adams’ Total Perspective Vortex which was Zaphod’s punishment. The knowledge of everything was supposed to destroy your soul.

So, is ignorance bliss or not? I stand with “Probably not”.