Having an educational background in the dreaded "mickey-mouse" world of business administration and working in an environment that is overwhelmingly populated with scientists and engineers, I am often reminded of how little I know about the world around me.
It is easy to develop a view of knowledge based on your work; I am (amongst other things) an analyst in the telecommunications industry and know a fair bit about how to design and build software applications. Despite this I know virtually nothing about how the world works.
This is, somewhat paradoxically, one of the reasons why I enjoy working in the consulting industry - there are so many interesting smart people from all walks of life who have a very practical understanding of why things happen in the real world to keep kicking me into thinking about stuff outside my work environment!
Why am I writing this? I was moved to reflect on what I know and don't know by a posting on www.ted.org by an educational consultant, previously from the BBC, showing how little we know and how much this has to do with our educations.
I suspect it is true for large portions of the population (myself very much included). It is a reminder to me how important it is to stay inquisitive about the mundane and to continually ask myself simple questions. And it is also a reminder to me of why I like working with so many smart and practical people from so many varied backgrounds. Thank you once again TED!
Here it is.
1 comment:
Very nice...too right, I liked the way the simpleness of questions demonstrated how our mind is corrupted by all sorts of rubbish that, in the end, gets us all confused.
And yes, of course I am able to get the bulb to light up with a battery and ONE piece of wire...because I did exactly that: I fiddled with that kind of stuff as a kid...and interestingly enough, I find it difficult to understand how someone (in particular, fellow engineers) could be stumped...
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