1. The Discovery of Ignorance
Chapter 14
The Discovery of Ignorance

2. The Scientific Revolution
Before science, centuries went by without overwhelming changes in human power
- Ex. Falling asleep in 1000 AD and awaking in 1500 AD versus waking up in the 21st century.
Traditionally, governments and wealthy patrons did invest in education and scholarship, but the intention was to preserve existing capabilities, not acquire new ones. Resources were provided to priests, philosophers, and poets by premodern rulers with the hopes of legitimization of his rule and maintenance of the social order.
In the 16th century, humans began to entertain the idea that new medical, military, and economic powers could be obtained.
As empirical proof built over the next 5 centuries, humans increasingly aimed for greater powers while governments and the wealthy were also increasingly willing to invest resources into those aims.

3. How does modern science differs from previous traditions of knowledge?
The willingness to admit ignorance
We acknowledge and accept that we do not know everything, and perhaps more importantly, that what we think we have learned could be disproven
The centrality of observation and mathematics
In attaining knowledge, observations must be gathered and organized into comprehensive theories through the use of mathematical tools.
The acquisition of new powers
In modern science, the purpose of creating new theories is to attain new power that will enable the development of new technologies.

4. The admission of collective ignorance
Before the rise of science, only 2 types of ignorance were admitted:
Individual ignorance of something important
Solution: Ask someone who knows.
Entire traditional ignorance of something unimportant
Solution: Rest easy knowing the reason no one knows the answer to your question is that it’s not important.
The rise of science was made possible when humans could admit that there were important questions that no one could answer.
How does the admission of collective ignorance and the understanding that answers are tentative not destroy the collective myths that hold societies together?
a. Declare that scientific theories are final, absolute truths.
b. Rely on non-scientific truths, regardless of science.

5. Formulating Theories
Previous traditions used stories to formulate theories. Modern science uses mathematical tools.
Isaac Newton’s use of simple mathematical laws served as a precedent for scientific theories.
The empirical evidence produced through mathematics inspired others to develop formulas.

6. “Knowledge is power”
Francis Bacon connected science and technology in the 17th century.
“Truth is a poor test for knowledge. The real test is utility.”
Before modern science, the purpose of educational institutions was to reinforce the existing order by spreading traditional knowledge. Technological innovations were usually made by craftsmen with no formal education.
New power made possible by science could not achieve its potential without the advent of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution.
China and gunpowder in contrast to The Manhattan Project
- military forces of the world fund and direct a large portion of research and technological advances.
- modern states increasingly turned to science for solutions in national policy

7. Testing the might of science
Previously, many cultures attributed threatening events to the wrath of angry gods. Accordingly, wrath could be avoided if you appeased them.
- This logic hindered the onset of a scientific revolution. However, with the collective admission of ignorance and the powers discovered through science, humans began to entertain the idea that threats to humankind may be managed or eradicated by acquiring and applying new knowledge.

8. How much faith do we have in science?
Like our ancestors, we may marvel at the progress of science yet not be able to fathom future advances. Harari suggests that all challenges to humanity can be met by science.
- illness, poverty, famine, war, aging, and even death
Unable, or uninterested in defeating death, humans accepted death as the meaning of life.
- The Gilgamesh project: Is ammortality achievable? If so, when?
Despite the great advantages science and technology have awarded humankind, could it lead to devastation of our species?

9. Does science operate on a plane superior to the rest of human activity?
In witnessing the present powers awarded to humankind by science and conceptualizing the possibilities of even greater powers in the future, modern humans are evermore willing to admit ignorance and trust technology and the methods of scientific beliefs almost religiously.
However, it is important to understand the forces that drive scientific research and its implications.
Science is unable to set it’s own priorities and is incapable of determining what to do with it’s discoveries.
So who does decide what should be studied? Or what we should do with those findings?
- Religion, Ideology, Capital
Physics, biology, sociology, etc. are shaped by ideological, political, and economic forces that pushed them in certain directions while neglecting others.

10. Feedback loop
Without power and resources, science could not advance. Politics and economics provide the resources for research. Scientific research then enables new powers, which earn more resources, with a portion being reinvested into research.
Power
Resources
Research