Knowledge

Information that, once instantiated, tends to cause itself to remain so; information that solves a Problem; information that is capable of causing a particular set of physical transformations.

Knowledge is the central concept of this glossary. All knowledge is conjectural (Conjecture), improvable through Criticism, and never certain (proof is impossible). There are two main types: Explanatory Knowledge (in minds) and Genetic Knowledge (in DNA).

Connections

• •Grows through Conjecture and Criticism — the cycle of Critical Rationalism
• •Two types: Explanatory Knowledge and Genetic Knowledge
• •Solves problems — conflicts between ideas
• •Creates Wealth — the set of possible transformations
• •Reverses the Hierarchy Rule — small entities can affect large ones
• •Expressed as explanations that are Hard to Vary
• •Stored in minds, memes, institutions, and DNA
• •Progress is the growth of knowledge
• •Error Correction is knowledge in action
• •Epistemology studies what knowledge is and how it grows
• •False theories of knowledge: Inductivism, Empiricism, Bayesian Epistemology, Justificationism