One of my favorite quotes comes from the legendary physicist Richard Feynman:
"Just because you know the name of something, does not mean you know something."
I see this as one of the primary pathways of people believing conspiracy theories, and falling for mis- and dis-information, for instance. People throw around scientific terms and names of theories and names of ideas, as if they know what any of it means or what the consequences are - these may just be something they saw in a headline on social media or a site of a favorite 'influencer' or politician. Then they repeat it, as fact, and with confidence since they know a fancy-sounding name or idea. These instances are often based on just hearing a name or title or single idea. But as happens SO MUCH, with people consuming news and information in an age of short Tik Tok videos, Reels, or 200-character tweets or messages, about SERIOUSLY COMPLEX AND COMPLICATED ISSUES that require true expertise to begin to understand the issues, just knowing the name of something does not mean one knows, AT ALL, anything substantial or accurate about that something!
Falling into the trap of fooling oneself they know what they are talking about because they can repeat a name or quote by an "influencer", without seriously understanding ANYTHING about the topic or issue, helps give birth to conspiracy theories, misunderstandings, and the rapid spread of mis- and dis-information. And this is, as we are seeing here and around the world, causing some serious splits in whole societies. It is also leading to a deterioration in the value of expertise, and mistrust of science itself, that has created the very technologies and ways of life of world civilizations. From climate change, to medicine and vaccinations, to evolution, new energy sources, to food science and nutrition, to advanced technologies like intelligent robotics, AI, and quantum computing, and so on, people are throwing names and ideas around they've heard from non-experts and using those as 'knowledge and facts', despite not know the details about those names and ideas. It's a dangerous practice, and has real consequences on our future.
