WARNINGS I MIGHT IMPART

 

WARNINGS I MIGHT IMPART

(as if any future generation might listen)

One prime warning readily applied to all generations comes from Judges 2.10, “And there grew up a new generation which knew not...”

Turns out humans don’t often know what they don’t know, and are most often adverse to leaning what they don’t want to learn from old folk. New generations seem always to require learning most of what they learn from their own mistakes. I know how they feel. Almost everything I learned in life was learned by mistake, and not from some novel willingness to listen to forefathers. Mostly my own mistakes, occasionally from observing mistakes of others. Mostly, though, warned of the consequences, I was young and “did it my way”.

Knowing few, if any, listen to lessons learned by old men, I herewith dare proclaim these warnings to any who would learn. Warnings I would give some future generation in forlorn hope they may learn from some old generation.

Beware the ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’

In 1974 Billy Graham said words which have evidenced to be valid many times, in many circumstances, by many people: “Every problem we solve creates two problems which we would not have had if we had not solved the first problem. The result is that now the problems are so complex there is no solution.” To best of my knowledge ‘Law of Unintended Consequences” has not been appealed since.

Beware What Has Been “Carefully Taught”

You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught

This comes from 1950 Broadway musical South Pacific and was quite controversial when written. While ostensibly directed to what has been ‘carefully taught’ to us as children, it is my observation it applies to what we learn throughout life – by mistake perhaps – about religion, politics, and our place is the human experience. Beware what you know that had to be very carefully taught.

Beware the Dunning-Kruger Effect

Never heard of it? Not to worry, once you understand it you may well see it in a lot of folks. Not yourself, of course, but others. If you can’t understand the Effect, well, we need to talk.

Named after psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is a view of life that causes some to overestimate their knowledge, level of skill, or ability – particularly in areas with which they have little to no experience. People with such a worldview can be recognized by:

• failure to accept others can do the task a lot better

• failure to realize or to admit they haven’t got a clue

• failure to learn from their own mistakes and failures

• failure to accept responsibility when all goes to hell

Sound like anyone you know? Just asking for a friend.

Bad news is that people demonstrating the Effect aren’t smart enough to know they aren’t smart enough to know they demonstrate it. So, as said above, if you still don’t understand the Effect, well, we need to talk.

Good news is that, like both pride and humility, once you know you demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger Effect, it’s gone.

Just warnings put forward in forlorn hopes some future generation may learn from this old generation.

theDaddy!