There is nothing more important for good data than a well developed ability to ignore -- to filter out all the irrelevant and incorrect information.
However, there's no bigger cause of bad data than a well developed ability to ignore information that doesn't suit you.
So, "Ignorance"... is both an essential skill... and a fundamental flaw, depending on how it's done.
How Ignorant are you?
Well that depends:
How many things exist?
How many of them are you focused on at any given moment?
How many of them have you studied professionally and become a formal expert on?
At any given time, there are many many things, not only in your life... but on the planet... and in the universe.
We can all only focus on a few at a time, and only in a way that gives us a partial picture of each thing.
Even if you are an expert in a field or two, you aren't an expert in the rest.
This means that regardless of how amazing, competent, or smart you are, you and I and everyone else, just by being human, are generally ignorant of most things most of the time.
It doesn't mean we aren't also generally competent, and able to successfully live our lives. It simply means that our success is almost never based on our understanding, but rather on:
Physics and biology, or
Social and tech systems engineered to ensure success
Our tech and social systems today are built to produce and process large sums of data, at great expense and with mixed benefits for humanity and life on the planet.
This fundamentally comes from:
A poor understanding of information and information structure
The confusion of fictional and non-fictional information
Our misunderstanding of beneficial fiction and ignorance
These can be solved with:
Improved data models and structures
Better clarity between Fiction and Non-Fiction
Building Fiction and Ignorance into our essential data models and understanding
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