One always has exaggerated ideas about what one doesn't know.
Interpretation
People tend to overestimate their understanding of unfamiliar things.
This quote by Albert Camus suggests that when we encounter something new or unknown, our imagination often inflates its complexity or significance. This tendency to have exaggerated ideas about the unknown can lead to misconceptions, fears, or unrealistic expectations, emphasizing the importance of humility and openness in our pursuit of knowledge.
In practice
During a seminar discussing the complexities of AI, this quote could reflect on our assumptions about technology.
The Poor Man whom everyone speaks of, the Poor Man whom everyone pities, one of the repulsive Poor from whom charitable souls keep their distance, he has still said nothing. Or, rather, he has spoken through the voice of Victor Hugo, Zola, Richepin. At least, they said so. And these shameful impostures fed their authors. Cruel irony, the Poor Man tormented with hunger feeds those who plead his case.
The certainty of a God giving meaning to life far surpasses in attractiveness the ability to behave badly with impunity. The choice would not be hard to make. But there is no choice and that is where the bitterness comes in. The absurd does not liberate; it binds.
Between history and the eternal I have chosen history because I like certainties. Of it, at least, I am certain, and how can I deny this force crushing me.
Don't wait for the last judgment - it takes place every day.
A single sentence will suffice for modern man. He fornicated and read the papers. After that vigorous definition, the subject will be, if I may say so, exhausted.
At times I feel myself overtaken by an immense tenderness for these people around me who live in the same century.
The worse a person is the less he feels it.
There is no paradise, no place of true completion _x000D_ that does not include within its walls the unknown.
I came in contact with every known Indian anarchist in London. Their bravery impressed me, but I felt that their zeal was misguided. I felt that violence was no remedy for India's ills, and that her civilisation required the use of a different and higher weapon for self-protection. - Hind Swaraj
Some formulas are too complex and I don't want anything to do with them.
Europe and the world are waiting for us to defend the spirit of Enlightenment, threatened in so many places.
War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.
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