What's wrong with 'I don't know'?

[Vinayaka]

I don't rarely enter this type of foray. Maybe I'm bored. Regarding the topic of the day, I've read a lot of news, a lot of posts, and rarely have I come across politicians or experts just saying, 'we don't know'. It seems to me we have to wait this coronavirus out, just like we have to wait a lot of things out. 'Wait and see' is wisdom. To put numbers on the unpredictable nature of it seems silly. And to believe the numbers of politicians, to regurgitate it as some verifiable prophecy? Really?

We don't know if there will be a second wave a third wave, or more.
We don't know if and when or how effective a vaccine will be.
We don't know if this virus will mutate to a weaker strain, or to a stronger strain.
We don't know when the next virus will strike.

And then there's the peeing contest. My country is better than your country. Those other countries all lied about their statistics. We will do better because we're smarter. The curve is flattening here, but not there. It can't happen to me.

The only certain thing is that there is great uncertainty. That is for certain.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[Revoltingest]

We're all experts on what others should do.
And my tribe is way better than your tribe.
Finally, to not take a stand on an issue just because you don't know....that is cowardly.

 

[Jane Boswell]

Sorry for the rant.

Ranting may expose insecurities within your lexicon, can't you express more with less? I understand this is a tall order and therefore reason to hold me in "contempt" because I confound you.

 

[Vinayaka]

We're all experts on what others should do.
And my tribe is way better than your tribe.
Finally, to not take a stand on an issue just because you don't know....that is cowardly.

Hehe. Revoltistan is the best. I wish I lived there.

 

[Nakosis]

My ego dislikes admitting to itself a lack of knowledge let alone admitting it to others.
It leaves open the possibility that someone out there might know more than me.

It is a little hard to get used to the idea that one may not actually be the smartest person in the room.

 

[Jane Boswell]

Wishing to live elsewhere means you're not exactly honoured by your lot (in life as well). Consider mediocrity.

 

[PureX]

I think, "I can't know" is better said than, "I don't know". Just as, "I should've known" is better said than, "I didn't know". It's all about projecting clarity, honesty, and responsibility.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

"I don't now" is good. "I don't want to know" not so much.

 

[Revoltingest]

Hehe. Revoltistan is the best. I wish I lived there.

Oh, it's great here.
We'd rather garden, eat, weld, & move machinery than bicker.
So I must come to RF to get my fix.

 

[Jane Boswell]

What one knows is as individual as dna. Far be it from me to dictate the natural course of evolution, but of course we have a hand in that as the only self-modifying species. We're extincting as well as incepting the arena of what's considered sentient.

 

[Jane Boswell]

My ego dislikes admitting to itself a lack of knowledge let alone admitting it to others.
It leaves open the possibility that someone out there might know more than me.

It is a little hard to get used to the idea that one may not actually be the smartest one in the room.

If this were a contest of smartest in the room, the masses wouldn't necessarily fail on grounds of stupidity, but rather on predictability. Fortune tellers sould be going out of biz now, as the laurels they've rested on rot.

 

[sun rise]

There's a very large grey area between I know and I don't know.

I've seen medical experts offering the best advice they can as knowledge of what is going on gets better. And that advice changes. I have no issue whatsoever with that.

I have an issue with someone in political authority who touts an unproven drug as being harmless.

Personally, I'm taking the advice of the best sources I know of and letting events unfold as they will.

 

[Vinayaka]

Oh, it's great here.
We'd rather garden, eat, weld, & move machinery than bicker.
So I must come to RF to get my fix.

I have re-affirmed to myself just why I have chosen not to enter such forays. Yes I could will be in the garden soon. It's a late spring, still a ton of snow. You have links to a snow eatin' virus of sorts, given your country is so ahead of the game on so many levels?

 

[exchemist]

I don't rarely enter this type of foray. Maybe I'm bored. Regarding the topic of the day, I've read a lot of news, a lot of posts, and rarely have I come across politicians or experts just saying, 'we don't know'. It seems to me we have to wait this coronavirus out, just like we have to wait a lot of things out. 'Wait and see' is wisdom. To put numbers on the unpredictable nature of it seems silly. And to believe the numbers of politicians, to regurgitate it as some verifiable prophecy? Really?

We don't know if there will be a second wave a third wave, or more.
We don't know if and when or how effective a vaccine will be.
We don't know if this virus will mutate to a weaker strain, or to a stronger strain.
We don't know when the next virus will strike.

And then there's the peeing contest. My country is better than your country. Those other countries all lied about their statistics. We will do better because we're smarter. The curve is flattening here, but not there. It can't happen to me.

The only certain thing is that there is great uncertainty. That is for certain.

Sorry for the rant.

On the other hand, to be fair to them, policymakers do have to consider scenarios and develop plans. Lack of thinking ahead is what has got us into this state. They just have to have a series of plans for different scenarios and be prepared to adapt them as they learn more.

It seems to me the danger comes in the rather puerile symbiosis that exists between some media outlets and politicians. There is huge pressure for politicians to pretend they are more certain than they are, for fear of seeming indecisive. Good politicians will resist that pressure and find ways to communicate the uncertainty, the bad news when it is bad, and the need for calm. Bad politicians will make erratic claims, hunt around for people to blame, and light fires all over the place to put the media off the scent of their own ineptitude.

 

[Jane Boswell]

There's a very large grey area between I know and I don't know.

I've seen medical experts offering the best advice they can as knowledge of what is going on gets better. And that advice changes. I have no issue whatsoever with that.

I have an issue with someone in political authority who touts an unproven drug as being harmless.

Personally, I'm taking the advice of the best sources I know of and letting events unfold as they will.

You're talking about a war with pharma, an industry that has not its patients as primary concern, but holy profits, at least in the US. Until you change your paradigm, you'll continue to witness the decline of what you feebly call "the greatest country on earth".

 

[Revoltingest]

I have re-affirmed to myself just why I have chosen not to enter such forays. Yes I could will be in the garden soon. It's a late spring, still a ton of snow. You have links to a snow eatin' virus of sorts, given your country is so ahead of the game on so many levels?

My gawd, man....where do you live...the North Pole?

 

[metis]

I don't rarely enter this type of foray. Maybe I'm bored. Regarding the topic of the day, I've read a lot of news, a lot of posts, and rarely have I come across politicians or experts just saying, 'we don't know'. It seems to me we have to wait this coronavirus out, just like we have to wait a lot of things out. 'Wait and see' is wisdom. To put numbers on the unpredictable nature of it seems silly. And to believe the numbers of politicians, to regurgitate it as some verifiable prophecy? Really?

We don't know if there will be a second wave a third wave, or more.
We don't know if and when or how effective a vaccine will be.
We don't know if this virus will mutate to a weaker strain, or to a stronger strain.
We don't know when the next virus will strike.

And then there's the peeing contest. My country is better than your country. Those other countries all lied about their statistics. We will do better because we're smarter. The curve is flattening here, but not there. It can't happen to me.

The only certain thing is that there is great uncertainty. That is for certain.

Sorry for the rant.

I have "I don't know" down to a science, and just ask my wife about that.

On second thought, don't ask her.

 

[sun rise]

You're talking about a war with pharma, an industry that has not its patients as primary concern, but holy profits, at least in the US. Until you change your paradigm, you'll continue to witness the decline of what you feebly call "the greatest country on earth".

Yes, the system is structurally broken. Until we admit that, the problem can't be solved.

 

[sun rise]

I have "I don't know" down to a science, and just ask my wife about that.

On second thought, don't ask her.

My wife thinks I think I'm always right. Just ask her.

 

[metis]

My wife thinks I think I'm always right. Just ask her.

Is she the one that convinced you that pigs fly?