The Human Race Is Dumber Than We Think

We like to call ourselves the smartest species that has ever lived. Honestly, I think that as a whole, the human race is pretty dumb — because we don't actually know anything about ourselves.

Look at the questions we still can't answer.

Where did we come from? Not the version in the textbook — the real one. What is consciousness? Nobody can tell you what it actually is. Why do we dream? We spend a third of our lives asleep, dreaming, and we have no idea what it's for.

And it keeps going. How many types of animals are even out there? We haven't finished counting the species on our own planet. What's the purpose of life? What is the universe — and is it the only one, or one of infinite multiverses stacked next to it? Do we even have free will, or does it just feel that way?

We've walked on the moon. We've built machines that talk back to us. And we still can't answer a single one of these. Every honest answer is the same: we don't know yet.

I don't think that's a bad thing. It's only bad when we forget it — when we start acting like we've got it all figured out. The day we stop admitting how little we know is the day we stop being curious. And curiosity is the only thing that has ever moved us even an inch closer to any of these answers.