> Ignorance is remaining willfully unaware of the existing base of knowledge in a field, proudly jumping in and stumbling around. This approach is fashionable in certain hacker/maker circles today, and it's poison.
> Learn tools, and use tools, but don't accept tools. Always distrust them; always be alert for alternative ways of thinking. This is what I mean by avoiding the conviction that you "know what you're doing".
These two statements have done a better job explaining my feelings on expertise than almost any of my attempts. Thank you, Bret.
> Ignorance is remaining willfully unaware of the existing base of knowledge in a field, proudly jumping in and stumbling around. This approach is fashionable in certain hacker/maker circles today, and it's poison.
Any more abstraction on this statement?
I'm interpreting it as "don't try new things because you don't know what you're doing", which just so happens to feel like the exact opposite of what Bret is trying to convey.
As I'm interpreting it, it's a cautionary statement against worshipping ignorance. It's brave and difficult to do something that's dissimilar to the ways you've learned and become powerful through performing. It's foolish to dive in without learning all that you can about what those who have been here before discovered.
I don't think it's cautioning against diving in prematurely. It's cautioning against thinking you'll do better than those who have come before by pure virtue of not knowing what yhey've done.
> Learn tools, and use tools, but don't accept tools. Always distrust them; always be alert for alternative ways of thinking. This is what I mean by avoiding the conviction that you "know what you're doing".
These two statements have done a better job explaining my feelings on expertise than almost any of my attempts. Thank you, Bret.