So when you put 3 people who represent each of the above mentioned categories in a room and ask them to discuss a few selected topics.
1st Topic
How do you think the world will end?
The conversation will always be initiated by the person who pretends. Lets call him P
P: I think the world would end when the pigs fall from the sky.
Of course, this is confusing start to the conversation but Mr. P thinks its better to start of on a lighter note and hence has said that. To which Mr. U (the person who understands) responds.
U: Pigs from the sky are you joking? What you just said is not only impossible but absolutely preposterous. The only way the pigs can fall from the sky is if they are in an airplane which is flying really high and suddenly, someone opened the back door of the aircraft and the pigs are going oink oink into the sky. Its not only stupid but just proves the level of discussion we would be having. But since I am also supposed to answer, I would say that the most genuine way the world could end is due to the melting of the ice caps which would result in flooding of the lands, which in turn would cause food shortage and a tremendous wave of evolution which could completely wipe the existence of man and the great cities that we have today will be lost like the Atlantis.
There has to be an input and hence the person who does not understand has to get involved. So there are two ways he can get involved.
1. Indulge himself in ignorance and nod.
2. Try to ask question and clarify the things he does not understand.
If he takes the 1st path, I personally believe, he would have a happy and a successful life. As the most destructive things ever made on earth are mostly due to the knack of investigating things you don't understand. (I am sure the people who understand will have many things to say about this view)
If he takes the 2nd path there are 2 things that can happen.
1. He develops an interest and builds his knowledge based on the facts presented.
2. He does not develop an interest and indulge himself in ignorance and nod.
So for the sake of getting involved Mr. I says this
I: Atlantis?
U: You should know about Atlantis?
P: Yeah Dude. Everybody knows about Atlantis.
The blank expression on Mr. I baffles Mr. U and Mr. U takes it upon himself to educate Mr. I about the city. While he is being educated Mr. P is trying to fill in with interesting tid bits. So instead of explaining what Mr. U is saying I shall mention only the parts of Mr. P as, whats the fun in reading about the truth here when you could get it from a much more reliable source.
So, Mr. U starts of with the establishment of Atlantis (for the moment lets assume Mr. I shows ignorance) and he is going blah blah blah. Mr. P trying to keep saying a few points by interjecting in between but his words are drowned in the overwhelming knowledge of Mr. U
A confident person such as Mr. U would not be interrupted but then Mr. P is desperate to show his stupidity
P: Well, like you said, Atlantis was drowned it means this phenomenon of global warming must have occured before also. Which could also mean that the world will complete a full circle when we drown due to the same reason.
The chain of thought that lead to Mr. P deduce such an excellent hypothesis was exemplary to say the least. At least that is what Mr. P thought and that lead to him having a very proud smile on his face and was awaiting some acknowledgment of any kind to come his way.
But Mr. U was not impressed as that was not proven and putting in strange ideas or rather making up stories was not something which he would eat up. This interruption and the nonsensical information passed on made his head ache and pity the ignorance of the other 2 people. But since, as mentioned before, he felt it was his duty he entertained Mr. P's hypothesis by asking him a few questions.
U: What makes you say that Atlantis was lost because of global warming?
P: Well it drowned.
U: (Irritably) Its not like it knew how to swim.
P: (with a smirk and a "can you believe this guy" look) Atlantis was an island OK. I know that much. How could you even suggests that it can swim.
U: Yes. Atlantis was an island like I mentioned before. But it sank into the ocean. So you are telling me that your "global" warming explanation for the disappearance of Atlantis happened only to Atlantis and no other island in the vicinity?
Mr. P had lost his chain of thought since he thought that Atlantis was an entire civilization or rather the name given to the entire world before the dawn of life as is recorded. The counter question by Mr. U made him very uncomfortable but since he did not want to appear stupid he simply came up with this.
P: Well. How do you think it happened?
Mr. U was sensible enough to see that Mr. P was indeed pretending to know about stuff he has no clue about. So decided to play around a bit with him (not in the perverted sense). So he began explaining and giving references about the countless theories he had read but this time directing all his attention to Mr. P
Mr. I who, very cleverly yet unknowingly, had diverted the topic from the original question was going through either of the below 2 cases
1. Boredom. As he has completely lost interest in the topic because this was not concentrated on his question any more.
2. Confusion. As, apart from his earlier question many more questions had been raised. If he were listening to it, it was clear that there was information being passed on but since he did not understand any of it the bits that he had understood by the limited concentration level were now confusing.
So whatever happens Mr. I will eventually reach the state if ignorance because the amount of information is immense for it to process.
Meanwhile, Mr. U is trying to reveal the true identity of Mr. P who in turn is trying his level best to fend of attacks by submitting calculated guesses in equal intervals of time. An excerpt from the conversation which had now moved on.
U: So therefore when you see that Archimedes saw the displacement of water. He ran about shouting eureka. This was known as ..
But before Mr. U could finish,
P: The water does displace when you put things into it. That happens all the time. To think it needed someone to take a bath to figure it out is insane.
U: ... Archimedes Principle of Buoyancy.
Mr. U had no answer to this and thought it best to carry on. But this particular break made him realize that the discussion had gone completely off track. So he tried to think back to where they had lost track of it. But this intermediate silence prompted a feeling of victory in Mr. P.
Mr. P thought that his impeccable presence of mind had so baffled Mr. U (part of it is true though the stupidity of Mr. P is what baffled Mr. U) that he might as well corner him and go for the killer blow. Though Mr. P had no clue how to land that punch so like always he experimented, after all it worked the last time.
P: So to understand you correctly most of the things that happen around us happen all the time. Just a few people thought it would be clever to name them and take all the credit for it.
Mr. U was obviously frustrated at the apparent foolishness of Mr. P and soon became angry at the stupidity of Mr. P's thought process that he considered it best to ignore it. But little did he know that it was not easy to ignore stupidity and its especially difficult to ignore stupidity when stupidity begins to think that's its being intelligent. So Mr. U tracks his steps and brings back the conversation to the original question.
U: Rather than talking about everything in the world we were discussing how the world will end.
P: Yeah. I don't even know how we deviated from this topic. It seems a pretty interesting one.
U: It seems all started with the Atlantis point.
P: I think I made that point.
U: You did not make that point.
P: Of course you did not make that point. I made that point.
U: No you did not.
P: I am telling you I did not.
U: You said you made it.
P: When did I say that? I said I made it.
And this went on for some time till Mr. I could not take it and said
I: I made it.
To which both Mr. U and Mr. P said
P: That's what I am saying. I made the point.
U: What is wrong with you? He said he made the point.
P: I don't know what is wrong with you. Maybe you should get checked.
U: Do you even understand what you are talking about?
P: I sure do know what I am talking about.
U: What are you talking about?
P: I am talking about you.
So this went on for some more time. Eventually Mr. U turned to Mr. I for support
U: Dont you think this P is a crazy person?
But Mr. I had learned that no good can ever come up if he opened his mouth at that moment and preferred to simply shrug his shoulders. Without any lack of support from Mr. I and Mr. P, Mr. U was extremely frustrated and eventually opted to leave the room.
Moral of the story:
When you put 3 individuals having the following characteristics
1. Knowledge
2. Ignorance
3. Pretentious
Ignorance beats them both, pretentious beats knowledge and knowledge would be the first to leave because it feels it deserves better.