This document discusses knowledge, truth and beliefs. See objectivity and science.
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Representation
- Directly, using language and models.
- Indirectly. Embedded into physical structures or behaviour. E.g. genes or rituals.
Knowledge begins with similarity. It recognizes structures and patterns.
Science attempts to organize knowledge. It relates to the following domains.
| Domain | Quality (Emphasis) | Bias | Artifact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art | Beauty | Imitation | Text, paintings, sculptures |
| Engineering | Production, usefulness | Efficiency | Products |
| Humanities | Subjectivity | Cultural | Stories |
| Philosophy | Theoretical knowledge | Questioning, idealism | History of philosophy |
| (Natural) Science | Objective knowledge | Facts, truth | Papers |
📖 Science
The scientific method focusses on acquiring knowledge through experiments and publications. It consists of making falsifiable predictions and attempts to make generalizations. It can be split up into natural, formal, social and applied science.
- It is biased towards physical objects and their measurable properties. It tends to de-emphasize subjective experience.
- Science, and especially the subject-object split has clear limits. It does not cover (moral) values. The boundary includes the following:
- In mathematics. Axioms of mathematics.
- In physics. The standard model and relativity. Quantum gravity. Dark matter.
- Before physics. Metaphysics.
- Subjectivity: aesthetics and morality.
- It does describe fundamental parts of reality incredibly accurately.
💭 Philosophy
Philosophy is related to science. It is not strictly part of science, because it questions science itself and even our own existence and objectivity itself.
- It also covers ethics, which is grounded on subjective experience. See personhood.
Philosophy is fundamentally destabilizing.
This is unlike science, which attempts to provide structure and predictability.
🔨 Engineering
Engineering differs from science in its purpose. It's about solving problems rather than discovering truth. It involves production on top of learning. Reliability is considered sufficient, rather than seeing absolute truth.
🎨 Art
L'art pour l'art.
Art differs from engineering in its purpose. It's about self-expression. It may involve contemplation and creation. It's about aesthetic and uniqueness, rather than mass-production. It can be completely decoupled form any utility. It focusses on value, rather than objects.
Art is a form of medicine
Arts is useful in many ways. See neuroaestethics.
❤️ Humanities
Explore the human condition: experience and beliefs. Language, culture and society.
Intellectual technology. Inventions that facilitate flow of information.
- DNA. Genes. Pass biological information to future generations.
- Culture. Rituals. Behavioural patterns that encode information. E.g. mamals that learn from each other.
- Language. Oral tradition. Memes. Pass informatin to other subjects.
- Sketching. Visual signs and symbols. Signs and hyperlinks. Maps
- Writing. Externalize thoughts. Persistent storage of ideas.
- Hypertext. Non-linear structures of documents.