# The curse of knowledge **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090 "2013-01-13T20:23:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/21 "2013-01-14T21:00:21Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Nope; doesn’t work. Once you know how to read, you know that those squiggly marks are words. It’s impossible to remember the time that they just looked like squiggles, devoid of meaning or intent. Does [this](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Arabic_Calligraphy_at_Wazir_Khan_Mosque-corrected.jpg/393px-Arabic_Calligraphy_at_Wazir_Khan_Mosque-corrected.jpg) help at all? Even knowing intellectually that it is script, I still see it as just a squiggly design. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/22 "2013-01-14T21:05:02Z")
You know it is a script, tho. I can’t read Japanese, but I know they are words. **Hypno-Toad** ’s anecdote is what I’m talking about: try to remember what it was like as a 3 year old to look at signs and not have any idea that they were anything other than pictures. Except for the odd cognitive disconnect, it just doesn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/23 "2013-01-14T22:44:25Z")
I had a lamp in my living room for close to 30 years, I always loved the lamp with beautiful flowers on it. One day a girl came by and told me the flowers were labias and a clitoris, very easy to see once she pointed it out but very difficult to not see once I realized what they were. My favorite lamp is now gone. There is a time and a place for labias and clits! ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/24 "2013-01-15T04:21:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And are you Aware of your Tongue? > > [Linus On Being Aware Of His Tongue (Peanuts 02.07.2010) - Dorks And Losers](http://www.dorksandlosers.com/2010/02/18/linus-on-being-aware-of-his-tongue-peanuts-02-07-2010/) Oh, God. No. No. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/25 "2013-01-15T17:18:25Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > My favorite lamp is now gone. There is a time and a place for labias and clits! Was it a major award? ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/26 "2013-01-15T17:36:10Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Most of the time, when I’m teaching a patient about high blood pressure, I can start with, “so blood pressure pills work a couple of different ways. Some make your blood vessels open more…” But then I see the glazed look in some eyes, and realize not everyone knows what blood vessels are. Or that blood moves in them. And I’ve got to take about 3 steps back and start with what is, to me, really \*really \*basic anatomy. Exactly. This is the curse of being a nurse I think I warned you about, WhyNot. The companion problem is seeing stuff as a nurse that you can’t unsee, even if nothing is bothering anyone and no one asked for advice. Blood and a hard floating stool in the toilet after someone ( I thought it was my 9 year old) didn’t flush. Um… are your poops ok? Does it hurt? Is there blood on the toilet paper? You really need to eat Cheerios and fruit every morning, and have some more oranges and a big glass of water before bed. Only, it wasn’t my son, it was my dad visiting. He overheard this conversation, the next thing I know I’m taking Dad out to buy Metamucil! Or you know the homeless guy down the street is a diabetic, you can smell it. And he doesn’t want your help, doesn’t want to go to a clinic and you see that rattty footwear and just …know the outcome isn’t good. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/27 "2013-01-15T17:43:10Z")
This effect is also called [hindsight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindsight_bias) [bias](http://lesswrong.com/lw/il/hindsight_bias/). ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/28 "2013-01-15T20:30:35Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > It’s called semantic satiation. Now you know. > > semantic satiation. semantic satiation. semantic satiation. semantic satiation. Cool. What a weird word, semantic satiation..semantic satiation..semantic satiation..semantic satiation..semantic satiation… > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Nope; doesn’t work. Once you know how to read, you know that those squiggly marks are words. It’s impossible to remember the time that they just looked like squiggles, devoid of meaning or intent. Ha, but you can recreate or explain that experience by taking something else that you can see without knowing it is a meaningful message, thinking it is just marks or just coincidence. And then learning that it is, indeed, a message. So get ready to have that experience again that you thought you could never have again: [Hoboglyphs](http://weburbanist.com/2010/06/03/hoboglyphs-secret-transient-symbols-modern-nomad-codes/) [Hanky code.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code) ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/29 "2013-01-16T01:51:01Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > They are definitely out there. I just started taking a nutrition class, and I was a little amazed at my classmates. > > “Can everyone give me an example of something with carbs?” > > “Potato chips?” > > “Umm… cake?” > > Not wrong answers, of course, but it looked like they were really taking stabs in the dark. They, at least, were taking a class and trying to learn. Give them some credit for that. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/30 "2013-01-16T22:55:12Z")
> [@madrabbitwoman](#): > > Kerning - damn you xkcd damn you to hell [xkcd: Kerning](http://xkcd.com/1015/) > And now I have to explain why I am getting cranky I spent 7 years doing kerning tables for character pairs in about 6,000 fonts. With many fonts, if you turn on “optical” kerning, that’s the result of my work. Curses! I went to Hawaii, and I found myself kerning palm trees. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/31 "2013-01-16T23:08:43Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > [Hanky code.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code) [Here](http://www.leathernjonline.com/hanky.htm)’s a more complete list. I knew all of them a few decades ago, and still can’t get many out of my head. And another example is reading music. When someone can’t understand what a time signature is, I just want to shake him and yell “How the hell can you not understand this?” ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/32 "2013-01-16T23:19:40Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And another example is reading music. When someone can’t understand what a time signature is, I just want to shake him and yell “How the hell can you not understand this?” I think the curse of knowledge might be a reason I’m not that good at teaching music. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/33 "2013-01-16T23:55:10Z")
This topic came up in a conversation with some friends yesterday. By someone else and they didn’t know the name. So, could I just politely agree with them? Nod my head and agree? Make small talk? Until the conversation naturally drifts away? No, I’ve got to tell them all about the “curse of knowledge.” Damn you. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/34 "2013-01-17T00:06:52Z")
“Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise!” - Sophocles, _Oedipus the King_ ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/35 "2013-06-06T23:57:05Z")
Ah. Yes, this is useful to my political self-understanding, actually. I have to remember that most voters (and probably most politicians ☹ ) are as ignorant of certain economic issues as I was ten years ago. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/36 "2013-06-07T08:06:39Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Nope; doesn’t work. Once you know how to read, you know that those squiggly marks are words. It’s impossible to remember the time that they just looked like squiggles, devoid of meaning or intent. No! Not true! Several months ago I related an early life experience that deals with this concept. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16048520#post16048520](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16048520#post16048520) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090/37 "2013-06-07T10:30:11Z")
Kerning. Oh god, KERNING! I can’t take it anymore . . . PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-curse-of-knowledge/647090.md?page=1)