Poll: Would you rather be ignorant or knowledgeable?

[NiceC]

I would like you to write your first thoughts on this and then after thinking about it. If you could write about your thought proccess that would be great.

So the question (in detail): Would you rather be ignorant of human suffering and problems (as if you were a child) or would you rather know what you know now (as either a adult or young person who is aware) or know more then you know now but know also the true extent what humans can do to each other as well as all other things.

You still always have the skills to communicate as well as your intelligence it is just your knowledge of the outside world.(edit)It would not be that you chose to be irgonant but that you (at least felt) that this is all you know and (some how) is all you ever will.

Option4, When I say know of suffering I mean what you could find out and not know through personal experience.

Option5, This is a non practical answer but you know of everything of suffering but still not nessircally through personal experience. (But what if it was, i don't have enough room to fit the answers onto the poll so please leave both answers)

Please write your thoughts and then read the rest and vote please.

Spoiler

A question I often wondered. Being ignorant would mean that I would not know what the suffering in the world is like, I could live care free, I would not know if I was missing anything. Yet I often would want to be knowledgeable and know most things but I would not want to know about the suffering of humanity.

 

[Goofguy]

Ignorance by choice is irresponsible. I'd rather be a learned person who is well informed than someone who stumbles through life with their eyes closed and fingers in their ears shouting "la la la la la la la".

 

[NiceC]

Also somewhat related, but in a different tangent. One disturbing thing I've learned in life, is that family has one of the worst potentials to be incredibly damaging on a emotional, psychological, and even physical level.

I wish I could say I have never heard that but I know people (not first hand) what a family can do. Thanks for sharing that. Would you give up anything to either stop that or just not know about it? (Don't feel pressured to answer this in anyway)

 

[NiceC]

Ignorance by choice is irresponsible. I'd rather be a learned person who is well informed than someone who stumbles through life with their eyes closed and fingers in their ears shouting "la la la la la la la".

It would be a choice that when you make (depending on your choice) you would want know, you would never have known anything about it. It would not be that you chose to be irgonant but that you (at least felt) that this is all you know and (some how) is all you ever will.

 

[Zhukov]

So... Socrates dissatisfied or a pig satisfied?

Is that essentially what you're asking?

Personally I'd take happiness over knowledge any day.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I would be happier in ignorance, but as a sorta kinda responsible-ish adult, I'd have to take knowledge and live with the unhappiness.

 

[madwarper]

By "know suffering", do you mean merely being aware of it? Or, personally experiencing it?

Either way, I'd take knowledge. Because, I'd either a) figure out a way to end suffering, or b) realize that suffering is just part of the human experience and accept that it is necessary.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I don't really see how knowledge of human suffering and the extent to which some people inflict pain on others is automatically akin to unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Aid workers, law enforcement, missionaries (depending on the country), journalists (depending on what they report on), and historians (depending on what they study) are all people who can be consistently aware of the pain and suffering experienced by and caused by others, yet many of them are capable of finding joy and comfort even in their profession, with many of them being able to live comparatively normal lives outside of their professions.

Personally, I would rather have knowledge. Not only would I eventually come to terms with the fact that suffering is a way of life, but I could actually do something about some of the suffering, especially with my higher level of knowledge. Sure, I would hardly be able to overcome it all, but doing something is better than doing nothing. Also, as I mentioned above, I highly doubt I would be completely miserable and depressed for the rest of my life as a result of that knowledge.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Knowledge of suffering doesn't mean I have to be unhappy.

I already know that thousands of people die every day.

It's called the Monkeysphere.


I know people die.

I just don't care.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

I literally want to know everything there is about the world to offer, and I don?t care how depressed it makes me, as long as I just know it for the future. Chances are, it wouldn?t make me depressed; it would just make me completely apathetic to the plights of the human world and become a Dr. Manhattan-like figure who eventually says, ?Fuck you, Earth?, and flies off to have a new life somewhere else.

Talking of which, this is going off on a bit of a tangent here, but I like to think of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen as what Superman in The Dark Knight Returns (seriously, if there?s one character that Miller at least wrote 100% faithfully in his new dark interpretation of Batman and the DC universe, it?s ol? Clark Kent) could?ve turned out like after becoming tired of having his naïve ideal of justice being repeatedly abused by the US government.

Actually, I really want to see that now; how has no-one done a graphic novel about this before, even if it would seem like a rip-off? I know ?dark? and ?Superman? don?t really mix, but at least it might stop all those people who think Superman?s too much of a boring goody-two-shoes. And now I?m going to start a new thread precisely about that, because I don?t want to potentially derail this thread.

 

[Daft Time]

the choice was easy; I'd want to know about all human suffering in exchange for incredible knowledge. I already understand how much suffering occurs. It's a harsh reality of the human condition that there is relatively little suffering anyone cares about. My life does not change because I know more of the detailing than before. I still try to minimise the suffering I cause, and prevent the suffering of those around me I care about. Besides, becoming all knowing makes me as close to all powerful as conceivable possible. I'd know what to do for the best ratio of suffering stopped to effort used.

Honestly, your question is whether or not you'd want to be a god.

 

[Eggsnham]

Well, for starters, literally everybody is ignorant in some way. When people throw around the term ignorant as an insult; they're either forgetting that they can educate the recipient, or that the recipient is actually just stupid and refuses to be educated.

That said, I chose the "normal" option. Just 'cause.

 

[The Event]

Well, I already know of plenty of human suffering but it doesn't affect me so knowing about a bit more in exchange for knowing everything seems like a good deal.

And if I knew everything I would presumably know how to end human suffering.

Seems quite easy, I'll take the final option please.

 

[Evil Moo]

I see no advantage in not knowing things. Yes, some of it may be unpleasant, but I already assume that these unpleasant things happen all the time anyway. The addition of greater knowledge would at least allow me to lessen the suffering in the world if I so desired.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

True knowledge is impossible anyway, so the question itself is nonsensical. We do not even know the nature of knowing, and so we don't know whether actual knowledge would be beneficial or harmful, not even taking into account that knowledge itself is an abstract concept created by humans (as far as we know, which we do not). Ultimately, debating the virtue or pleasantness of knowledge is completely irrational as we have no knowledge to base things on.

 

[Hoplon]

Ignorance never made anything better for anyone.

 

[lunavixen]

Option 4 is true to me now, and it's where i'll stay, suffering is everywhere and it takes a lot of forms, i don't want to trade knowledge for ignorance, no matter how it makes me feel, besides if we know how suffering is caused and how it affects people, maybe we can find a way to end the suffering or find a way to help those in suffering cope with it until it can end.

 

[JokerboyJordan]

Sure, I'll pick option 5, I mean who who wouldn't want to be God? (in the omniscient sense)

If you knew everything, I'm pretty sure you could alleviate some of that suffering anyway, like by curing cancer for instance.

 

[frizzlebyte]

I would rather know everything and also be aware of all human suffering. There is very little that we can do to alleviate *all* human suffering, and since I understand this, the fact that I know everything would more than make up for the fact that I would also know all human suffering.

Hopefully my awareness, combined with my knowledge would provide a way to stop some of the most egregious suffering.