Information is not knowledge… intelligence selectively destroys information to create knowledge. – Ray Kurzweil, ('The Singularity is Near', 2005)
Defition of knowledge (Merriam-Webster dict.)
knowledge, learning, erudition, scholarship mean what is or can be known by an individual or by humankind. knowledge applies to facts or ideas acquired by study, investigation, observation, or experience <rich in the knowledge of human nature>. Learning applies to knowledge acquired especially through formal, often advanced, schooling <a book that demonstrates vast learning>. Erudition strongly implies the acquiring of profound, recondite, or bookish learning <an erudition unusual even in a scholar>. Scholarship implies the possession of learning characteristic of the advanced scholar in a specialized field of study or investigation <a work of first-rate literary scholarship>.
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Incoming data is perceived and comprehended as being:
Alternatively, incoming data can be filtered out of conscious awareness (uncomprehended).
The information you believe in, is knowledge. False information is knowledge, as long as you believe in it. If you see a believable or obvious object with your own eyes, the optical stimulus (data) gets transformed into knowledge. If you verify information that you might not believe in, the information might be transformed as either knowledge (true) or fiction (false information that might nonetheless be informative).
The more information you have available, the less you know. Alternatives emerge out from versatile information that makes formation of knowledge more con-fusing. Also, additional information can replace or negate your previously formed knowledge.
Information strengthens your awareness. Knowledge strengthens your sense of reality. By eliminating knowledge, the sense of reality gets weakened. Thus, information and consciousness submerge towards subconsciousness. This can be called a dissociative state. By eliminating information, the irreality gets ruled out. Thus, irreality and consciousness ascend towards unconditional knowledge. This can be called a suggestive (conditioning) state.
Knowledge consists from unconditional knowledge. This includes beliefs, dogmas, ideologies, etc. Unconditional knowledge affects consciously as well as subconsciously. The consciousness consists from the information, which is available. This includes thoughts, interpretations, etc. Obviously this information is conditional.
Knowledge verifies reality. Without knowledge, the reality looses it's true potential. Thus, knowledge is proportrional to the sense of reality. Reality is sensed through hyperreality. By definition, the hyperreal seems more real than the reality ("it is the map that precedes the territory — precession of simulacra" - Jean Baudrillard). The sense of reality consists mainly of hyperreal (mis)conceptions and delusions (information that you hold true).