Collective ignorance: an information theoretic account

We are ignorant knowers. This paper proposes an information theoretic explanation of that fact. The explanation is a conjunction of three claims. First, that even in those dimensions where we are capable of picking up information, there is information that we don't pick up. Second, that there can be dimensions of information for which we lack the capacity to pick up any information whatsoever. Third, that we don't know whether the faculties and cognitive capacities we are endowed with process all the information that they pick up.

Automated summary

We are limited in our understanding of things. We cannot access all information, sometimes cannot access any information at all, and are unsure if our cognitive abilities are processing all the information we receive.