The Online Rant

I watched a video yesterday that really got me thinking. How much of what we think we know, do we actually know? The video was one of the really excellent TED presentations. If you haven’t previously checked out the TED presentations, then you really should. The presentations are on all different topics and are done by people from all over the world. But all of them are thought provoking and interesting.

This particular video was on the failure of our education systems. A failure that is so pervasive and so subtle, that we don’t even realize it is happening. In fact we end up believing we know things about how the world and our society works, when we really don’t know them.

We live in a world filled with information. From the moment we enter the school system, and even before, we are bombarded with facts and details about the world around us. By the time we graduate from school or college, we know all kinds of things. But do we really understand the things we know? And how many of the things we “know” are actually wrong?

I posted the video below so that you can watch it for yourself. The presenter gives a simple exercise at the beginning to illustrate his point. I recommend doing the exercise. I think you’ll be surprised at what you don’t know. I was, and it really made me wonder about the other things I “know.”