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“We know with confidence only when we know little; with knowledge doubt
increases” = “the more we know, the more we doubt”

 in itself is a paradox; doubt is necessary for knowledge to increase
Paradox with self-reference,
Doubt is what we need to generate more knowledge
Empty doubt vs real doubt

- No evidence vs actual evidence
Doubt in knowledge is recognizing the uncertainty of one’s reasoning. This essay

will focus on the uncertainty, which can lead into questioning the relevance or the
validity of knowledge. The synthesis of such questioning can lead to new knowledge as
it did in my physics internal assessment. When I was analyzing the uncertainty of the
slope of my graph, which showed a general increasing trend, I realized that it would be
more accurate to argue that there was no relationship between the variable based on
the relatively high uncertainty value. Here, I doubted the linear relationship and
produced a new knowledge (or explanation) that matches my observation. This leads to
the question, “What role does doubt in previous knowledge play in acquiring new
knowledge?”. One assumption inherent in this question is that in every circumstance of
gaining new knowledge, the existence of previous knowledge is necessary, which can
be refuted by several cases including the example of child prodigies. These cases will
be carefully distinguished apart from the paper, which will explore how doubt can
prompt questions in knowledge and how those questions are integral in two areas of
knowledge, which are natural sciences and religious knowledge system.
ABO blood group
Increase in knowledge  the fact that we have more things to learn  is that doubt?
produce more doubt?
- Is that doubt? Doubt in reasoning = questioning the validity of knowledge
- Do I question previous knowledge? when I gain more knowledge, doubting how
much more there is to know, whether it’s knowable, what my confidence is in the
previous knowledge
- Questioning the old knowledge; science has to be falsifiable; without doubt
nothing is falsifiable requirement for developing knowledge
- Religion  weakened by doubt
Religion is absolute and driven by faith. Questioning or asking evidence for it is non-
sense.
be When we are in doubt, Doubt is often a precursor to questions, which can
Doubt = uncertainty of knowledge, questioning whether it is relevant or true.

Doubt  questioning of old knowledge
Decartes’ definition of Cartesian doubt: method to determine certain knowledge
Or doubt may lead to more confusion

Doubt in one’s state of mind or the knowledge itself?
AOK: Science
- Statistics  confidence is crucial + trillions of data points
- Math IA
- Science has made progress only because of doubt  questioning current
knowledge  experiment to test it  either confirm its reproducibility or falsify it
- Lack of doubt in the system  not much development (Aristotle)
- Doubt in one’s result  lead to reproducibility check = slow development
- Based on evidence  which can be falsified
- Doubt is always present in science, however, the purpose of science is to reduce
that doubt
AOK: Religion
- Doubt is often shunned in religion. People who are “brainwashed” = more
respected; faith = know with confidence;
- According to pastor, doubt is an important, necessary part of growth of faith
o Doubt is not the opposite of faith, but one element of it
- Doubt may lead one astray when there is no answer
Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the
strength of your faith until it has been tested.
doubt in shared knowledge  might be more impactful because bigger doubt LOLs
Although doubt may not be useful at times. Without doubt, there can be no progress
within knowledge.
#3 To what extent does uniformity affect the value of knowledge?

AOK:
 Statistical inference; assuming there is uniformity, outliers are often discarded
 Researcher bias —> assuming that certain result is gonna arise is gonna affect
o The bear video; we are able to perceive better if we know there are gonna
be multiple results
Agree to the prompt

 physics laws + calculation
 Entropy; probability
QCD is an example where numbers cannot be used to model a physical property

(colour is used)
Uniformity in terms of (physical properties —> modelled by #), but that uniformity
doesn’t have to exist in this case

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“We know with confidence only when we know little; with knowledge doubt

increases” = “the more we know, the more we doubt”

Empty doubt vs real doubt

Doubt in knowledge is recognizing the uncertainty of one’s reasoning. This essay

ABO blood group

Doubt = uncertainty of knowledge, questioning whether it is relevant or true.

Or doubt may lead to more confusion

#3 To what extent does uniformity affect the value of knowledge?

Agree to the prompt

QCD is an example where numbers cannot be used to model a physical property

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