Knowledge Is Not Understanding (Week 22 of Wisdom)

Knowledge is not understanding. We are better at inventing tools than understanding how to use them wisely. Globalization, genetic engineering, nuclear technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning are advancements that are not only proof of the greatness of the human intellect, but its capacity for self-destruction.

Wise people cannot be sufficiently educated and educated people cannot be sufficiently wise.Lao-Tzu

Malicious and negligent people have access to technologies, that due to their speed of development, have far surpassed human understanding. Indeed, scientific knowledge and statistical averages are regularities, and they constitute “knowledge.” But there is a difference between knowledge and understanding.

“one could say that the real picture consists of nothing but exceptions to the rule, and that, in consequence, absolute reality has predominantly the character of irregularity.”The Undiscovered Self, Carl Jung

It is possible to know of the scientific facts and averages that relate to a patient’s case, but understanding entails a non-scientific, personal approach.

Our self-knowledge is an offshoot of what our immediate social environment believes it knows about itself. Our belief in our story of progress is a consequence of learning about the improvements of statistical averages in standards of living, and lower rates of birth mortality. While these make a case for the advancement of knowledge, nuclear disasters and pandemics are extreme events that are symptoms of insufficient understanding.

it isn’t that the intellect is inherently bad. Of course, knowledge is our best tool in the fight against our self-destructive tendencies, but what I think we can learn from a thinker like Jung, is that it would be a grave error to assume that the intellect is a force of pure good. The intellect, to the extent that it can be constructive, rejuvenating, enlightening, and life-enhancing, can be equally oppressive, destructive, and misleading.

The quality of the intellect enhances our natural human tendencies, in my estimation, so that it is not simply that our capacity for good that is improved, but our capacity for self-destruction is advanced as well. That is why I think understanding can be usefully juxtaposed to knowledge.

And understanding is what underlies our value judgements, not knowledge. It is not facts that tell us what to think about the world, but our biased perception of them that does. The difference between the mad scientist intent on harm and the scientist who invents a cure for a deadly disease, is not a technical difference in ability, but a difference in moral understanding and values and motivation.

So am I saying that we should stop advancing because we lack sufficient understanding? No, but we should be mindful of the myth of progress. Many of what we consider bold leaps of courage, could be stepping stones towards self-annihilation. Instead of thinking about progress as this binary thing, we should recognize that it is not binary, that with each step forward, we are adding to it an existential risk that did not exist before (nuclear energy).

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Related posts:

1. The Inflated Ego (Week 23 of Wisdom)
2. The Defense Against Grandiosity (Week 25 of Wisdom)
3. Focus on What You Can Control (Week 9 of Wisdom)
4. Adjust Your Perception of Time and Desire (Week 15 of Wisdom)