5 ms·

> “It is our knowledge — the things we are sure of — that makes the world go wrong and keeps us from seeing and learning,” That's not knowledge - that's belief

> “It is our knowledge — the things we are sure of — that makes the world go wrong and keeps us from seeing and learning,” That's not knowledge - that's belief. > Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. Eh, I agree having books you can refer to is useful, but I would argue you can't really refer to them unless you've read them. If they're really worthwhile, you'll read them, learn something, and keep them for future reference, perhaps even future re-reading.

sp332 10y ago
But how would an individual know the difference between "knowledge" and "belief"?
- handcreme 10y ago
  Some say that knowledge is justified true belief[1], others disagree[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justified_true_belief#Justified_true_belief https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justified_true_belief#Justifie... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettier_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettier_problem
theoh 10y ago
Belief is mentioned later in the article, clarifying the meaning. But be assured: knowledge is only ever a form of belief. The laws of physics could change tomorrow (this is not precluded by any provable rule of existence). Really everything we know, we know inductively. (Mathematical knowledge is excluded from this obviously because of its weird, tautological nature--but within math, the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry is a good example of things that were thought to be necessarily true turning out to be merely axiomatic) Another example of "knowledge" being used in the sense meant by the article is this: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." --Mark Twain
- gjm11 10y ago
  "Quotations on the internet are often misattributed." -- Abraham Lincoln (The "what you know that ain't so" thing actually seems to have originated with Josh Billings. I don't think Mark Twain used it.)

sp332 10y ago

But how would an individual know the difference between "knowledge" and "belief"?

handcreme 10y ago
Some say that knowledge is justified true belief[1], others disagree[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justified_true_belief#Justified_true_belief https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justified_true_belief#Justifie... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettier_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettier_problem

theoh 10y ago

Belief is mentioned later in the article, clarifying the meaning. But be assured: knowledge is only ever a form of belief. The laws of physics could change tomorrow (this is not precluded by any provable rule of existence). Really everything we know, we know inductively. (Mathematical knowledge is excluded from this obviously because of its weird, tautological nature--but within math, the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry is a good example of things that were thought to be necessarily true turning out to be merely axiomatic) Another example of "knowledge" being used in the sense meant by the article is this: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." --Mark Twain

gjm11 10y ago
"Quotations on the internet are often misattributed." -- Abraham Lincoln (The "what you know that ain't so" thing actually seems to have originated with Josh Billings. I don't think Mark Twain used it.)