Americans are likely to say humanity knows most or all of what there is to know about topics such as geography, mathematics, economics, and literature. For each of these fields, around twice as many Americans say humanity knows most, almost all, or everything there is to be known than to say it knows just some, almost nothing, or nothing at all. On the other hand, most Americans say humanity knows some or less about astronomy and — most of all — artificial intelligence.
A new YouGov poll asked Americans how much they think humanity knows about 25 fields. For seven of the 25 fields, significantly more Americans say humanity knows a lot than say humanity knows little. In six — including history — similar shares say humanity knows a lot and a little. And in 12 fields more Americans say humanity knows some or nothing than say we know most or all.
All three groups of fields include both sciences and humanities. The seven fields for which more Americans think humanity knows a lot include math and literature. The six that divide Americans include chemistry and philosophy. The 12 fields that Americans perceive as having much remaining unknown include physics and theology.
Liberals and conservatives differ in how much they think some of these fields have discovered. For example, 53% of conservatives say humanity has discovered most or all of what there is to know about math, compared to 40% of liberals. 38% of conservatives say the same about history, compared to 27% of liberals.
On the other side, liberals are more likely than conservatives to say humanity has discovered most of what there is to know about statistics and political science.
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Out of the 25 fields included in the poll, conservatives were more likely than liberals to say humanity has discovered most of what there is to know in 11 of them, while liberals are more confident about humanity's knowledge of four, and 10 fields are essentially tied between the two groups.
Views on some of these fields are divided by education and age. But as with groups characterized by their political ideology, no group of Americans characterized by educational level or age is consistently more or less bullish on humanity's existing knowledge in every field.
For example, Americans without college degrees think humanity has gotten further on history, but not as far on statistics, as do college graduates.
Americans without college degrees are more likely than college graduates to say humanity knows most or all of what there is to know about history (37% vs. 28%).
But views on the field of statistics show the opposite pattern: College graduates are more likely than non-graduates to say humanity knows most of what there is to know about stats (51% vs. 38%) and less likely to say they are unsure (5% vs. 18%).
Methodology: The poll was conducted among 2,196 U.S. adult citizens on two separate 2025 surveys from September 15 - 21 and September 16 - 18. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3%.
Image: Getty (Lourdes Balduque)
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