Lessons on the learning curve

An age-old remedy for meta-ignorance

The Sanskrit poet Bhartrhari’s 100-verse composition Niti Shatakam imparts many of its lessons on universal values using wry humour and ironical depictions of the human condition. In the section known as the मूर्खपद्धति or ‘The Ways of the Fool’, Bhartrhari offers his keen observations on an all-too-common human failing. By his definition, the ‘fool’ is not one who is ignorant but one who is unaware of his ignorance (we can call them the ‘meta-ignorant’).

He uses a particularly colourful term for these ‘meta-ignorant’ beings:

ज्ञानलवदुर्विदग्धं

Jnana-lava-dur-vidagda
One who knows very little, but is deluded by an inflated sense of his knowledge

(jnana= knowledge, lava = an extremely tiny quantity, durvidagda = improperly digested)

Using his characteristic humour, he tells us:

अज्ञःसुखमाराध्यः सुखतरमाराध्यते विशेषज्ञः ।
ज्ञानलवदुर्विदग्धं ब्रह्मापि नरं न रञ्जयति ॥ ३॥

The ignorant ones are easily appeased
Easier still, those with expertise!
But…
With delusions of wisdom, the one who is seized
Even the Creator can scant hope to please!

Psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger identified the tendency of people with limited competence in a particular domain to overestimate their abilities, a phenomenon known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. Even in Bhartrhari’s time, it appears that the loudest voices were of those who know just enough to take a vociferous stand, but do not know enough to step down from an ill-conceived position when presented with opposing evidence. Bhartrhari is said to have drawn from his experience of human nature in his work, and this verse is a shining example of the fact that human nature has barely changed in the millennium and a half since the Niti Shatakam was written!

They who know not… that they know nought

Both the Dunning-Kruger effect and Bhartrhari’s satire need not be restricted to the wilfully or blissfully ignorant. A lack of awareness of the smallness of their knowledge in a particular domain is something that can overcome even those who are otherwise accomplished. The examples of policymakers coming to grips with climate change or leaders trying to assess the impact of emerging technologies come readily to mind.

What is the way out of this state?

In a verse that follows, Bhartrhari writes from the perspective of a person who has finally attained awareness of his ignorance. In lines that are doubly picturesque - for their meaning as well as poetic elegance, he describes the growth in maturity of such a person once he comes in contact with those with actual expertise.

यदा किञ्चिज्ज्ञोऽहं द्विप इव मदान्धः समभवम्
तदा सर्वज्ञोऽस्मि इति अभवत् अवलिप्तं मम मनः ।
यदा किञ्चित् किञ्चित् बुधजनसकाशात् अवगतम्
तदा मूर्खोऽस्मि इति ज्वर इव मदो मे व्यपगतः ॥

Then
What I knew was just a jot.
But my pride - it ran amok!
Blinded by delusions, of my own omniscience
Like a tusker overcome by rut.
Now
When I learn a whit from the wise.
The scales drop from my eyes
Retreated from pride, my illusion subsides
Like the fever that was my fool’s paradise.

To confess ignorance and seek the advice of experts with humility is not always the easiest of things to do, especially for those in positions of power. But this, Bhartrhari says, is the only way out of what writer/illustrator Tim Urban would, centuries later, call the ‘Child’s Hill.’

Image Credit: Tim Urban (waitbutwhy)

The Child’s Hill is a place where one becomes deeply convinced of the adequacy of their knowledge. This is the terrain we encounter in the initial stages of success in learning a new skill or exploring a new concept. We acquire some level of knowledge and become satisfied with our level of competence. Like the elephant on rampage that Bhartrhari describes, some people in this state may even run amok, proclaiming their expertise and convictions. That some of us get trapped inextricably in this state is an unfortunate fact that is there for us to see in the world around us.

There are others who break away from this state, only to find themselves in the ‘Insecure Canyon.’ The scales fall from their eyes and they concede that they do not know much after all and start questioning their assumptions.

This is a deeply uncomfortable place to be in. Yet, the sooner we land in its depths and the more intensely we question ourselves, the better our chances of overcoming our limitations, of shaking off the blinkers that narrow our vision and hamper our learning.

In acknowledging the possibility of the inadequacy of our own knowledge, we open ourselves to learning from those who know better than we do. For individuals, this can have a remarkable impact on personal growth and skilling. And for leaders and policymakers, it can lead to better decisions at an organisation or population level.

On the flip side…

Some of us are guilty of a failing that is quite the opposite of this: that of underestimating our capabilities even after we have the mastered a subject. That is a topic for another day.

Note: The translations of Sanskrit verses are my own. I have exercised liberties for rhyme and poetic effect in rendering them in verse in English.

Further reading: Dunning-Kruger effect