Yesterday in Oxford. The pursuit of learning is framed as a battle against ignorance. This is a unidimensional limitation in a 2D world: we also fight against being deceived or deluded. The singular focus on acquiring leverage via "head info stuffing" ignores the need to unlearn, and denies the possibility that we will have to recant our prized beliefs and discard our precious understandings.

A person sat next to me told of his story of impressing a tutor at an entrance exam with his knowledge of Israeli politics. If I had said what I now know about occultism and fabricated history I would have been instantly dismissed as a lunatic, but in reality I would have been substantially ahead of the teacher. The assumption that the fellows have little to learn from the students breeds arrogance and limits the advance of the academy.

The mask and jab expose the institutionalised folly. It is a high price to pay to learn collective humility, but it has to be discovered somehow.