We’ve talked about ignorance you drift into, and ignorance you design. Now let’s talk about ignorance you deploy.

In 1994, seven tobacco company CEOs testified before Congress that they did not believe nicotine was addictive. This wasn’t designed ignorance or luxury ignorance. This was something else entirely. Internal documents later revealed that tobacco companies had known about nicotine’s addictive properties for decades. They had research. They had data. They had scientists telling them exactly what their products did.