Ignorance is bliss

I once offered an oyster to a girl. She declined and said; “I had to dissect one during my study and once you’ve searched for the reproductive organs of an oyster you stop enjoying them as food.”

I heard a guy explain to his girlfriend how filthy it was to have a cat sleep in a bed. He said “Do yourself a favor and put the part of the bed where he sleeps under a microscope, you will be disgusted at what you will find!”

When you french kiss someone you exchange 40,000 parasites and 250 types of bacteria (and 0.7 grams of protein, 0.45 grams of fat and 0.19 grams of other organic substances).

Having all the information might sound like a good idea. Knowing who your competitors are can be useful. Having experience in a field can give you an edge.

Sometimes it helps to not know. To not have a history. To not know what your competitors are doing or how far you are behind. Sometimes ignorance IS bliss. You can always find a reason to NOT do something.

There are always hidden risks.

Involve too many people or think about it long enough and pretty soon you will have plenty of reasons not to do something and you will have lost the energy to just charge ahead.

As Ed Roberts, Founder MITS, explains in Triumph of the Nerds:

There isn’t any way you could do this. But at that time you know we just lacked the eh the benefits of age and experience. We didn’t know we couldn’t do it.

So they just did it.

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