Agnotology is the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit, usually to sell a product or win favour. Ignorance spreads when firstly, many people do not understand a concept or fact and secondly, when special interest groups – like a commercial firm or a political group – then work hard to create confusion about an issue. A scientifically or politically illiterate society will probably be more susceptible to the tactics used by those wishing to confuse and cloud the truth. Consider climate change as an example. The fight is not just over the existence of climate change, it’s over whether God has created the Earth for us to exploit, whether government has the right to regulate industry, whether environmentalists should be empowered, and so on. It’s not just about the facts, it’s about what is imagined to flow from and into such facts.
The tactics used by the tobacco industry became the perfect example of agnotology, Ignorance can often be propagated under the guise of balanced debate. For example, the common idea that there will always be two opposing views does not always result in a rational conclusion. This was behind how tobacco firms used science to make their products look harmless, and is used today by climate change deniers to argue against the scientific evidence. This ‘balance routine’ has allowed the cigarette men, or climate deniers today, to claim that there are two sides to every story, that ‘experts disagree’ – creating a false picture of the truth, hence ignorance.
Powerful industries can promote ignorance to sell their wares. Ignorance is power… and agnotology is about the deliberate creation of ignorance. Ignorance is not just the not-yet-known, it’s also a political ploy, a deliberate creation by powerful agents who want you ‘not to know’.
The internet is helping propagate ignorance – it is a place where everyone has a chance to be their own expert, which makes them prey for powerful interests wishing to deliberately spread ignorance.