Real knowledge is to know the extent of ones ignorance. - Confucius

Previous articles talked about Bitcoin and the cognitive biases that lead to misconceptions about Bitcoin.

Backing up a bit, we can look at the knowledge, or ignorance that contributes to these misconceptions.

Its important to understand a bit more about ignorance so that we can understand the differences in some of the ignorant narratives around Bitcoin.

Most importantly, we need to understand that some narratives are from a situation of really not knowing, and some narratives are intentionally deceptive.

These narratives are perpetuating ignorance.

Have you heard of agnotology? Agnotology is the study of deliberate, culturally-induced ignorance or doubt.

A book called Agnotology; The Making And Unmaking Of Ignorance by Robert Proctor sheds a lot of light on the subject.

The word ignorance has some pretty negative associations such as stupidity, narrowness, and willful denial of facts.

In reality, there are different flavors of ignorance and they can be on a continuum of positive to neutral to negative.

Proctor divides ignorance into three main areas:

Most people who know even a bit about Bitcoin are NOT ignorant about some of the directions I am going with this.

This ignorance can be the motivation to learn more as we mature. This type of ignorance is what fuels personal and institutional learning, research, and innovation.

For many, Bitcoin is something they have not learned about yet.

There are a variety of learning styles, so to educate everybody, many different educational paths and time preferences are needed. The group who hasnt learned yet runs the gamut of ages, life situations, work situations, available time, energy, and capabilities for learning.

There are many who have this type of ignorance about Bitcoin due to the characteristics of their life situation.

If you work in one field, you might not learn about a different field due to the time required to become an expert or worker in that field.

Maybe you operate within one financial system and you havent learned about alternative ones.

Or when you do learn about something, you stick to something that confirms your existing beliefs, is within your biases, and therefore comfortable.

Most people have grown up and been taught to operate within a particular financial genre.

There are many reasons for ignorance by selection and they range from factors like age to time factors to benign lack of exposure to belligerently not wanting to learn something new.

Lets help people choose to learn more about Bitcoin.

It aint what you dont know that gets you into trouble. Its what you know for sure that just aint so. Mark Twain

Certain institutions have become quite effective at manufacturing ignorance.

I believe there are two areas where ignorance is crafted:

I also believe that it is difficult to separate the two of these, since history and narrative is written by the victorious and the successful.

The term agnotology was invented by Proctor when a paper called the Smoking And Health Proposal was leaked to the public. The document described in detail how cigarette corporations were attempting to obfuscate research findings that cigarettes are carcinogenic.

The Greek word agnosis means not knowing and ontology means nature, so Proctor invented the term agnotology to mean the study of the nature of not knowing.

Proctor was inspired to study this area because he saw that a long-standing and very powerful industry was able to cast doubt around the health effects of tobacco.

Similarly, the long-standing and powerful central banking, financial institutions, and government industries craft ignorance in two ways:

People are attempting to document and counteract this constructed ignorance on Twitter and in articles for Bitcoin Magazine such as the FCA Influencer Program And Bitcoin article. Much of the negative Bitcoin and energy debate seems to be intentionally constructed ignorance.

One also needs to be careful not to do the same ignorance constructing around Bitcoin. For example:

Understanding the different types of ignorance can help in crafting responses appropriately.

If you can get people to start to comprehend, people will start down the rabbit hole and get to greater understanding.

Call them out, and combat the narratives intentionally and directly with facts that counteract.

This manufactured ignorance is intentional in order to maintain the legacy fiat product, system, and those who benefit from its continuation.

Dont pull your factual punches.

Agnotology, or the making of ignorance, is a marketing strategy for many who use it.

This strategy is used to craft a message that distracts from the reality of the situation and what benefits certain interests.

Its easier than fixing the problem or finding an alternative solution.

Like Bitcoin.

This is a guest post by Heidi Porter. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

Read more from the original source:

Bitcoin And Biases: Agnotology, The Making And Unmaking Of Ignorance - Bitcoin Magazine