The Dunning–Kruger effect was
put forward in 1999, though they have noted similar historical observations
from philosophers and
scientists, including Confucius ("Real
knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."), Socrates ("I know that I know nothing"), Bertrand Russell ("One
of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are
stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt
and indecision."), and Charles Darwin,
whom they quoted in their paper
("ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge").
Geraint
Fuller, commenting on the paper, noted that Shakespeare expressed similar sentiment in As You Like It ("The
Foole doth thinke he is wise, but the wiseman knowes himselfe to be a
Foole.")
So much this. I live in a world where I have to constantly
envy the people that suffer from this.
While they probably live simpler, less stressful, and happier lives, I guess
they also have the unknown possibility of really screwing something up and
getting fired. Whereas I would get fired
for some screw up that I really spent time trying to make the right decision
about knowing it was probably wrong.
But maybe I’m the Dunning-Kruger
of Dunning-Kruger diagnoses.
(source of information in the first paragraph: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
)
