The basic meaning of 'knowing what you are doing' is "to be aware of through observation, inquiry, or information of an action, the precise nature of which is often unspecified".
This is completely different than what the author (and other commenters) are suggesting, which is that one should have a completely in-depth understanding of all aspects of a given idea as far as human culture is capable of understanding.
If you are walking, you know what you are doing. If you are reading, you know what you are doing. If you're commenting on a web forum, you know what you are doing. You are not confused. You know what typing is. You know what the words you want to say are. You know what you intend to say. This is knowing. This is doing. That's it. That is it.
Most of us, except for maybe the mentally handicapped or the catatonic, know what we are doing. There is no big secret or mystery or hidden understanding. It is not correct to suggest that the majority of people do not comprehend the actions they take. Most people comprehend their actions, even if subconsciously in many cases.
If you watch the video, Feynman gets pissed off. He's not pissed off because he can't answer it, because he could just state "I would have to explain all of physics to you for you to be satisfied." He's pissed because this person doesn't even know what they're asking for.
This author doesn't know what he's talking about when he says he doesn't know what we're doing. But that has nothing to do at all with the rest of us.
The best comparison I can make is to say that most of us don't know why we do anything. There is seemingly no purpose to the universe, or why any of it does what it does. Yet there is completely obvious purpose to everything.
I drink because i'm thirsty. Why am I thirsty? Because my body needs to be hydrated. Why hydrated? Because it's made mostly of water. Why water? Continue that logic train until you run out of ways to explain why the universe exists. Nobody needs to know why the universe exists. But we do know when we're thirsty, and why we drink, which is what we're actually doing, so we do know what we're doing, and why.
We do know why we do things, and what we do. Anyone telling you different is selling something.
This is completely different than what the author (and other commenters) are suggesting, which is that one should have a completely in-depth understanding of all aspects of a given idea as far as human culture is capable of understanding.
If you are walking, you know what you are doing. If you are reading, you know what you are doing. If you're commenting on a web forum, you know what you are doing. You are not confused. You know what typing is. You know what the words you want to say are. You know what you intend to say. This is knowing. This is doing. That's it. That is it.
Most of us, except for maybe the mentally handicapped or the catatonic, know what we are doing. There is no big secret or mystery or hidden understanding. It is not correct to suggest that the majority of people do not comprehend the actions they take. Most people comprehend their actions, even if subconsciously in many cases.
If you watch the video, Feynman gets pissed off. He's not pissed off because he can't answer it, because he could just state "I would have to explain all of physics to you for you to be satisfied." He's pissed because this person doesn't even know what they're asking for.
This author doesn't know what he's talking about when he says he doesn't know what we're doing. But that has nothing to do at all with the rest of us.
The best comparison I can make is to say that most of us don't know why we do anything. There is seemingly no purpose to the universe, or why any of it does what it does. Yet there is completely obvious purpose to everything.
I drink because i'm thirsty. Why am I thirsty? Because my body needs to be hydrated. Why hydrated? Because it's made mostly of water. Why water? Continue that logic train until you run out of ways to explain why the universe exists. Nobody needs to know why the universe exists. But we do know when we're thirsty, and why we drink, which is what we're actually doing, so we do know what we're doing, and why.
We do know why we do things, and what we do. Anyone telling you different is selling something.