#knowledge #mind #philosophy # [[Epistemic status]] #schroedinger-uncertain # Related # TODO > [!TODO] TODO # Knowledge >The Analects affirms that **the superior person seeks and loves learning for the sake of learning**, and righteousness for the sake of righteousness. >~ [[Confucius]] ![[DALL·E 2022-07-12 21.42.31 - A brain highlighted by the sun, by Picasso.png]] >**_it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree_** _— make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to._ One of [[Philosophy]] principal aims is to discover how we acquire **knowledge**, [[Philosopher]]s long struggled on the concept of intuitive and a priori **knowledge**, that is [[Rationalism]] versus the empirical and a posteriori **knowledge**, that is [[Empiricism]]. >Therefore knowledge consists in reflection, not in impressions, and perception is not knowledge, because it “has no part in apprehending truth, since it has none in apprehending existence.” >~ [[Bertrand Russell]] You must draw a [[The Map is not the Territory|map of the territory]] based on the [[Information|information]] received from the territory. ![[DALL·E 2022-07-12 21.47.19 - A man drawing a map, digital art.png]] >**Knowledge**, too, which is crucial to understanding phenomena like artificial intelligence, is defined by a counterfactual property: it is information that can keep itself in existence. >~ [[Chiara Marletto]] i.e. Eiffel tower, an animal, any [[Assembly theory|non-elementary components and symmetries]]. >the only things that the laws of physics preserve directly are elementary components and interactions, and elementary symmetries. >~ [[Chiara Marletto]] >**Knowledge** is defined entirely via counterfactuals: it is information that is capable of remaining instantiated in physical systems. >~ [[Chiara Marletto]] ## The acquisition of knowledge >I said that knowledge is a particular type of information, with the counterfactual property of being resilient—it can cause itself to remain instantiated in physical systems. I also explained that we do not know exactly how it is created, but we know that it can arise out of no-knowledge via the process of natural selection, and that another process for creating new knowledge is what happens in the brain when we think. >~ [[Chiara Marletto]] How can [[Evolution|evolution]] create knowledge? ## Catalyst as carrier of **knowledge** >I shall use ‘catalyst’ to indicate systems that can cause a transformation and retain the property to do so >~ [[Chiara Marletto]] >Most transformations that are possible in the physical world must occur via a catalyst that enables them. I have also noted that all catalysts must contain an abstract catalyst, which is itself made of **knowledge**. >~ [[Chiara Marletto]] ## Compound Knowledge ![[Compound Knowledge]] ## Information ![[Information]] ## The fatality of **knowledge** >Sorrow is **knowledge**: they who know the most >Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth, >The Tree of **Knowledge** is not that of Life. >~ [[Byron]] It seems that [[Byron]] and maybe others, say, [[Nietzsche]], suspect that **knowledge** comes with a great baggage of [[Pain]]? I believe the pursuit of **knowledge** is a positive asymmetry, in an [[Epicureanism]] sense. >If you're irrational to start with, having more **knowledge** can hurt you. For a true Bayesian, information would never have negative expected utility, ~ [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] ## ~ >Bayesian [[Philosopher]]s see the conditional relationship as more basic than that of joint events - that is, more compatible with the organization of human **knowledge**. In this view $B$ serves as a pointer to a context or frame of **knowledge**, and $A | B$ stands for an event $A$ in the context specified by $B$ (e.g. a symptom $A$ in the context of a disease $B$). Consequently, empirical **knowledge** invariably will be encoded in conditional probability statements, whereas belief in joint events(if it is ever needed) will be computed from those statements via the product >$P(A, B) = P(A | B)P(B).$ ~ [[Judea Pearl]] >My point is that [[Wisdom]] in decision making is vastly more important—not just practically, but philosophically—than **knowledge**. ~[[Nassim Taleb]] >The Master said, “Yu, shall I teach you what **knowledge** is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it—this is **knowledge**.” ~ [[Confucius]] --- >The most valuable **knowledge** is always discovered last: but the most valuable knowledge consists of methods. ~ [[Nietzsche]] --- >Amateurs in any discipline are the best, if you can connect with them. Unlike dilettantes, career professionals are to **knowledge** what prostitutes are to love. ~ [[Nassim Taleb]] --- >There are many kinds of eyes. Even the Sphinx has eyes - therefore there must be many kinds of "truths", and consequently there can be no truth. ~ [[Nietzsche]] --- >There is **knowledge** of the present only when there is a complete understanding of what the structure and the nature of the past is—and ending it. ~[[Krishnamurti]] --- >He realized that one thing had left him, as a snake is left by its old skin, that one thing no longer existed in him, which had accompanied him throughout his youth and used to be a part of him: the wish to have teachers and to listen to teachings. ~[[Hermann Hesse]] --- >Know how to rank **beliefs** not according to their plausibility but by the harm they may cause. ~ [[Nassim Taleb]]