In analyzing whether a person can know too much, such a question warrants two more questions: What is the learning potential of the brain?
What is the effect the knowledge has on an individual?
The adult human brain weighs on average three pounds. Such a small amount of mass, wouldn’t you say? Yet, the capacity to measure what it can learn or digest in the form of knowledge is immeasurable. With that being said, the conclusion could be a resolute “no,” a person can never know too much. Moreover, estimates by neuroscientist give a very low percentage of the tapped potential pertaining to the brain in one’s lifetime.
Look, so far, what humans have been able to learn and accomplish over the centuries. Huge architectural structures attest to man’s ability to take in specialized knowledge, retain it, and then make application of it. There is enough information in one newspaper today that the average person in the seventeenth century would not have come across in a lifetime. The main reason would have been availability and time. In this century, the information is unhampered or can readily be accessed. Therefore, once again, an individual could say “no,” a person can never know too much.
This brings us next to the psychological effect of the digested or retained knowledge. Does such knowledge yield a positive or detrimental effect on a person? In other words, does the person feel they have become elevated above other human beings?
What does the individual do with the knowledge? Does it engender in them to be productive members of society? What are they using the knowledge to accomplish? Many use it for the benefit of helping others, in addition to oneself.
When some of the questions just asked above are pondered, varieties of people see the need to be selective on what types of knowledge they take in. Do you want to be a better musician? Do you want to study animals? How about learning to fix things around the house? Better yet, how about taking in positive knowledge that improves emotional health? Such knowledge, the brain can digest in great amounts.
This one subject could go on for an extended amount of time. Why? Because this subject has involved a great amount of research over the years. Hence, in closing, the brain has an immeasurable ability to take in knowledge; however, it is up to the knowledge seeker to sort through what types of knowledge are beneficial.