Illusion of Knowledge
One of the real dangers of the digital age is the illusion of knowledge.
We think we “know” more than we actually do. This is promoted by the accessibility of information on the internet and the ability to “Ask Alexa” (or “Ask Goggle”) any question as a moment’s notice.
The problem is information is not knowledge.
Knowledge consists of the facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education. Information, on the other hand, is what passes as either “facts” or “fake news” depending on your point of view.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance;
it is the illusion of knowledge.”
Stephen Hawking (1942-2018)
The illusion of knowledge is a significant problem for safety and health professionals. It manifests itself in a number of ways from the risks individuals take to how professionals do their jobs.
The illusion of knowledge leads individuals to take foolish and dangerous risks. YouTube is filled with videos of individuals doing unsafe activities. Why? Because they saw a YouTube video of someone else doing stupid and dangerous things and figured they “knew” how to do it too (without getting seriously hurt, of course).
In the emerging world of “big data” and the internet of things, safety and health professionals are increasingly being asked to rely on “IT solutions with build-in artificial intelligence”. Press a button and an instrument and/or software program will collect data, analyze the results and provide you with “return on investment” recommendations. No need to do the hard tasks of reviewing the data, evaluating the results, completing the statistical analysis or making the business case – the software does it all. Of course, since it is a “black box” there is no understanding of how the conclusions and recommendations were arrived at.
This is ignorance – not knowledge.
Although it is easier to rely on technology, it is important to understand what that technology is actually doing. In particular, it is important to understand the validation and verification underlying data collection and the assumptions and statistical analysis implicit in the artificial intelligence.
There are important ramifications to you and the organizations that you work for when you substitute the “intelligence” of computers for your own professional expertise. Our ethical obligation is to “deliver competent services with objective and independent professional judgment in decision-making.” We cannot do this if we are unaware of the means by which our technology-driven decisions are being made and the assumptions and criteria underlying those decisions.
Related Resources:
Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018. He was a theoretical physicist and author of several best-sellers, including A Brief History of Time.
Big Data is increasingly becoming important in the Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety fields. The March 2018 edition of The Synergist included the article – Predictive Purposes: Will Big Data Change Industrial Hygiene? The answer to the question is clearly “Yes.” The more difficult question to answer is HOW Big Data will change industrial hygiene.
For a new perspective on “Rumsfeldian Space” – the region of unknown unknowns – check out this quote by Stuart Firestein in a blog post on hackermoon.com. “We know a lot of stuff but of course there is more stuff that we don’t know…the more we know, the more we increase the amount of stuff we don’t know, because there was all that stuff we didn’t know that we didn’t know before.”
