Transhuman Epistemology: Knowledge in the Cosmic Scheme
Mental assimilation, the illusions of mastery, and the futility of revelation
In epistemology, knowledge is roughly justified, true belief. But what’s the point of having such beliefs? What’s the function of knowledge?
The justifications in question are the reasons you’d offer to show that you know what you’re talking about, that you’re not just guessing or lying. These reasons, then, are nodes in a net made of concepts, words, or institutional frameworks that we cast over what we know, to enable us to trap and to pacify the fact, to give us peace of mind.
Knowledge is mental assimilation, so there are two kinds of knowledge: either we assimilate the world or the world engulfs us and we reflect on the fallout.
Our Assimilation of the World
We understand X when we treat X like a fish that we catch with our various nets. Our smallest net is our conceptual network, our personal worldview. When you understand X for yourself, you personalize X: you absorb X into your worldview by cognitive osmosis.
In so far as your personal net of concepts, background assumptions, and memories reflects a larger, collective net, such as that of your club, political party…
