In his 1742/1768 poem, Thomas Gray wrote two famous last lines: “[..] where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise”. The old English word “folly” means foolish; bliss is “a state of complete happiness or joy”. My blog’s title is a paraphrase of those two lines.
Small human problems often arise from misunderstandings and/or wrong assumptions. Both can be solved rather easily (eg, listening, verification). As Ronald Reagan once said: “Trust, but verify“.
Often, serious human problems originate from human arrogance and/or ignorance (my blogs). Both cause problems and/but also prevent solutions. Weirdly enough, indifference solves problems. Hence, once people become indifferent, solutions are near (eg, climate, politics, viruses). In my view, arrogance and/or ignorance are the root of all evil rather than money. Money is only a tool to express both.
Ignorance on the mission, goals, strategy, tactics and operations of viruses brought us where we are today (eg, lockdowns, vaccine mandates). Indifference will, however, be the solution. Indifference will result in a lack of ideology and a return of pragmatism (eg, common sense).
In my blogs, I’ve explained that viruses are the incubator of evolution for all lifeforms (eg, plants, animals, humans). There are more viruses than stars in the Universe. Most viruses appear to be good, while only a few are bad. Latter appears to be a coincidence (eg, 2014 Aeon article, my July 16 blog). Humans appear to be collateral damage in a war between bacteria and viruses that is lasting for billions of years.
Nowadays, the common opinion is that viruses are lethal. Knowledge is irrelevant; ignorance rules. Slowly, our ignorance will be replaced by indifference because it just takes too long to return to our “old” habits. Moreover, more and more people will realise the irrational discrepancy between the (very) high number of (meaningless) virus contaminations, versus the low number of (serious) hospital admittances (ICU).
Some people will assume consiparies, Some will assume lying by politicians and virologists. Few will accept that this was/is human stupidity, rooted in arrogance and/or ignorance.
I had always considered indifference as being negative. Now, I realise that this was a micro focus. Indifference towards a certain person is usually not considered as positive. Apparently, the macro focus of indifference can be something positive in a society at large, because it replaces ideology by pragmatism (my blogs).
“In economics, an indifference curve connects points on a graph representing different quantities of two goods, points between which a consumer is indifferent. That is, any combinations of two products indicated by the curve will provide the consumer with equal levels of utility, and the consumer has no preference for one combination or bundle of goods over a different combination on the same curve. One can also refer to each point on the indifference curve as rendering the same level of utility (satisfaction) for the consumer.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indifference_curve
Indifference (1993) by Pearl Jam
artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.
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