Peruse the posts in this thread and I think you can see your answer. Many people seem to be literally happy to accept ignorance in fields outside their expertise. There's one exchange near the top of this thread that's been repeated multiple times with the specifics swapped. A user suggested that people would benefit from learning the basics of car maintenance - changing fluids, brake pads, etc.. It's downvoted with numerous comments responded essentially arguing 'why, when I can pay somebody else to do it?'
Those are trivial skills that take a matter of minutes to learn, and for which there are countless step by step guides available online. I'm certain that car mechanics have had this exact same conversation with the nouns changed about. How can somebody who is an expert in e.g. computer science, not manage to take a few minutes to learn how to change their fluids or pads? Skills that would not only improve their independence and knowledge but also save them thousands of dollars over time? And indeed even when given illustration of how to do so, some people just seem to be arguably voluntarily incompetent. I think it's the same thing with computers as I've observed the exact same thing, as I imagine everybody has. Some people just don't want to learn things outside their domain, and seem to become voluntarily incompetent when facing those problems.
First of all, user didn't suggest that people would benefit from learning the basics of car maintenance but instead said that the car owners should learn how to do it.
But to get to the real point, you are talking about two different issues as if they are one and the same. The car discussion is about not being interested in learning some things because you can just pay someone to do it while you do something else that you enjoy more. That it is easy to learn has nothing to do with it.
The parent poster here is talking about intelligent people being unable to complete basic tasks on a computer, even though they are sincerely trying to learn how to do them and sometimes even having them explained in detail.
Brake pads? A garage can lift my car up, take all four wheels off with a pneumatic driver, and be mostly done in a few minutes; for me, that's a hand-jack lift of each corner of the car one at a time, with a hand and foot lug wrench to remove and re-fit 20 wheel nuts, then a trip to dispose of the brake pads, and several hours.
Framing it as "ignorance" and "voluntarily incompetent" is incorrect, I don't reject the knowledge of brake pad changing, I desire to avoid the work of brake pad changing. It doesn't need doing often, I don't have the tools and experience to do a good, quick, job (pneumatic wheel nut removers, or a car lift). I already have to get my car inspected annually (UK), and that's a perfect time for a garage to change things. Worse, if I screw something up by being inexperienced, I'm in trouble - I can't drive my car to a garage, and a tow would cost more than the work. Assuming I can afford it and am not on a tight budget, then were's the compelling reason to do it?
> improve their independence
An illusion. I can't legally run a car without a garage doing an annual inspection, I can't make my own brake pads. I don't become more independent by removing and replacing 20 wheel nuts.
> [improve their] knowledge
Brake pads need changing every ~24,000 miles, that's every 2 years of average mileage, or ~25 times you will use this knowledge in your adult motoring life. Rough numbers. (Electric cars with regenerative braking will reduce wear on brake discs and pads). Is that a priority thing to learn? The best available thing to learn?
But my point is not that it's a bad trade, my point is that framing it as "the only imaginable reason is wilful ignorance" is little more than a putdown, and it's wrong. There are other reasons. You're selling the Heinlein-ian "if you can't do Everything yourself, then you're not a Real Man(tm)" worldview with a slightly different wrapper on it.
Those are trivial skills that take a matter of minutes to learn, and for which there are countless step by step guides available online. I'm certain that car mechanics have had this exact same conversation with the nouns changed about. How can somebody who is an expert in e.g. computer science, not manage to take a few minutes to learn how to change their fluids or pads? Skills that would not only improve their independence and knowledge but also save them thousands of dollars over time? And indeed even when given illustration of how to do so, some people just seem to be arguably voluntarily incompetent. I think it's the same thing with computers as I've observed the exact same thing, as I imagine everybody has. Some people just don't want to learn things outside their domain, and seem to become voluntarily incompetent when facing those problems.