The video above shows Orson Welles talking about how ignorance, not confidence, was a major factor in the success of Citizen Kane.
Welles, quickly hailed as a virtuoso following the success of the movie, seems to have a different perspective than those who heralded him as a genius1. It wasn’t innate ability or superior work ethic alone that helped him establish himself — though I’m sure Welles had those in his own right. Rather, Welles credits ignorance as the catalyst for his technical breakthroughs.
This video caught my attention a few years ago, and is something I like to revisit from time to time. It’s a helpful reminder of the messiness of reality. Hard-work and talent are important, but there’s often so much more at play.
In some ways I think Welles’s use of ignorance here can be interpreted as acting instinctively — what typically gets referred to as reasoning from first principles. Welles, in all his ignorance, is still acting rationally, doing what he thinks is right. However, the difference is that by remaining ignorant to what people would normally consider possible, he is able to stumble on a technique that others hadn’t considered, one that was received much more favorably.
And that’s the lesson: there’s value in zigging while others zag. It’s necessary in a lot of highly competitive fields. And when the right, novel insight is found, the effects can be astounding.
We can take a lesson from nature about what it means to be ignorant. In Alchemy, Rory Sutherland tells a story of “rogue bees”:
Bees have a way of communicating with one another that let other members of its hive know they’ve found nectar. This in sense gives directions to other bees to find the food source and, ultimately, transport more back to the hive2. However, some rogue bees don’t seem to pay any attention to other members of its hive. Instead they travel off randomly. Evolution would tell us this is inefficient behavior. Why go off in search for other sources of nectar, if there’s one available to you. Yet these rogue bees play an important role, they take risks. They do their own thing, but every once in a while they are sure to find a whole new source for the hive. They are the hive’s R&D unit.3
The expected value of ignorance might be low, but at times it might give us a better chance of moving closer to a global maximum. A better chance at finding a break-through
Ignorance can lead us astray, away from the hive. But that isn’t inherently bad.
It’s Wise to Avoid All Extremes
On the other side of this mindset exists hubris. Don’t use ignorance as justification for dismissing people’s opinions or the hard-won conventional wisdom in a given field. Immediately thinking you know more than those who have dedicated careers, or in some cases, entire lives to a particular field, is foolhardy.
Instead, let ignorance be a tool for you to use whenever trying something new. Being a beginner can be frustrating, but provides you an opportunity to look at things with fresh eyes. Without mental inertia or knowledge of the status quo you’re more likely to question each part of a system. And who knows, sometimes it might be right to question it.
Ignorance — for right or wrong — can help breed confidence and conviction. Perhaps it will get you to try things you never have before. There are countless stories of masters within a field who say that if they knew how hard it would be they never would’ve gotten started in the first place. And sometimes that is all it takes, getting started. We’re all in a constant state of figuring things out, so perhaps there is room for a little more ignorance in the equation. To give us confidence in leaving the rest of the hive behind, to where the possibilities are endless.
One for the Road
Guy Clark’s song The Cape has its own take on ignorance. “He did not know he could not fly, so he did”
I don’t know a ton about Welles but I wouldn’t be shocked to find he shared their opinion. But in this case he was humble.
Another metaphor for the more technical readers is Stochastic Gradient Descent