Can anyone explain the part about &quot;ignorance&quot;?<p>&gt; McLuhan cites the parable as a productive use of ignorance and indolence, ....<p>I can understand <i>indolence</i>. This is a pejorative term, but it basically means the desire to avoid doing work. Certainly productive use was made of this.<p>But <i>ignorance</i> is lack of knowledge. I do not see how the boy made productive use of any lack of knowledge. Rather, he made productive use of his knowledge of what needed to be done, and that it was always the same thing.