From Intelligence to Wisdom: How to Overcome Our Own Ignorance

If someone is still using Windows 95, it may seem ridiculous. However, what if someone still holds onto old opinions and thoughts about phenomena without reconsidering them? Why are we afraid of changing our minds and views about phenomena? Perhaps it is because we are afraid to leave our comfort zone or imagine that conditions will become more unpredictable than they currently are. But a crisis should not have to occur for us to change our opinions. Instead, we should think and evaluate before a crisis occurs and thus avoid many individual and team costs.

There are three personalities within us that prevent us from changing our beliefs and opinions:

1. The passionate speaker: When we enter into a discussion with someone, we use the power of language to assert that we are right.

2. The prosecutor within us: We find evidence against our opponent, emphasize them, and thus question their argument. However, we do not do this to ourselves.

3. The politician within us: We use the weaknesses of our opponent and engage in politics (such as lobbying with colleagues, attracting the attention of others, etc.) to win the argument.

These three styles or behavioral personalities prevent us from realizing that we too are weak, have wrong reasons, and need to change our ideas and beliefs. So what is the solution? Replacing these three personalities with the “scientist within,” someone who seeks the truth and thinks towards reaching a correct judgment. (Of course, these three states happen much more in intelligent people because they defend themselves more strongly than their incorrect arguments, which is known as “the curse of intelligence.”) Therefore, the solution is to transform from merely intelligent individuals to wise individuals. This means we should first become aware of our ignorance and then seek to learn and correct it.

Take a look around you right now. What don’t you see? What puzzles you? Yes, you don’t see yourself, and you need an outside perspective. (In other words, we are blind to our own ignorance and lack of knowledge.)

An example of this is the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which states that the most confident individuals in any group unfortunately have the least knowledge about that subject. (According to this chart, which shows the level of knowledge on the horizontal axis and the level of confidence on the vertical axis, there is a peak point at the beginning, known as the peak of stupidity, where we have a little knowledge but are full of confidence.)

The world around us, and even our bodies, are constantly changing. So why and how are we so stubbornly attached to our ideas from 7 years ago?! Perhaps it is because we do not know and do not see ourselves. This is exactly why we have a false sense of confidence and do not feel the need to change and grow.