# The sh*t we don't know

`"Thoroughly conscious ignorance is the prelude to every real advance in science."`  
*James Clerk Maxwell, 1831 -1879*

A great talk by Prof. [Stuart Firestein](https://www.biology.columbia.edu/people/firestein) at TED2013:

%[https://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_firestein_the_pursuit_of_ignorance/transcript?language=en] 

Loved the concept of **thoroughly conscious ignorance.** It can be likened and combined with [**deliberate practice**](https://jamesclear.com/deliberate-practice-theory)**,** making for <mark>the deliberate conscious pursuit of ignorance</mark>.

Some more quotes:

`"You have to know a lot of stuff to be a scientist, but knowing a lot of stuff doesn't make you a scientist."`

`"Knowledge is a big subject; Ignorance is a bigger one"`

`"Science is always wrong. It never solves a problem without creating 10 more."`  
*George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950*

**The Principle of Question Propagation** by Immanuel Kant: `"Every answer given on principle of experience begets a fresh question"`

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1675019356164/71b80c2c-219c-4a7f-a707-87850427aef9.png align="center")

Yet the author asks to **reframe**:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1675019435916/204a7538-c924-460b-b2c4-d1e646502bb6.png align="center")

`So instead of how much you know about it, we could say, "What can you ask about it?"`  
`So yes, you do need to know a lot of stuff as a scientist, but the purpose of knowing a lot of stuff is not just to know a lot of stuff. That just makes you a geek, right?`  
`The purpose of knowing a lot of stuff is to be able to ask lots of thoughtful, interesting questions because that's where the real work is.`

`"In an honest search for knowledge, you quite often have to abide by ignorance for an indefinite period."`  
*Erwin Schrodinger, 1948*

`Education is not filling buckets; It is lighting fires`  
*W. B. Yeats*

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