Asklemmy

For me, everything is a belief unless it satisfies the following criteria:

1. It is generally accepted as true among experts
2. There is ample evidence that is both personally convincing and leaves no room for alternate interpretations (not the same as #1, since many fields have "commonly accepted knowledge" that is generally acknowledged as most likely true but has no evidence to back it up)
3. It is specific enough that it cannot be interpreted in a way that is misleading

I find that the one that trips up most people is #3, since some people speak in technically true but overly broad statements and the listener ends up filling in the gaps with their own biases. The listener leaves feeling like their biases have been confirmed by data, not realizing that they have been misled.

In the end, according to my criteria, very little can be categorized as true knowledge. But that's fine. You can still make judgements from partial or biased data or personal beliefs. You just can't be resolute about it and say that it's true.

Belief is seeing that the light is green even when it isn't.

Knowledge is accepting that the light is red when it is.

Believing that the light is green will not help you when you get flattened by a truck. Knowing that the light is red will keep you from dying pointlessly.

Knowledge is the first step on the path to wisdom. Belief is delusion.

If you cannot demonstrate, or point to a demonstration, then all you can do is guess. You can make an educated guess based on other demonstrations, but if you cling to your guesswork as if it were demonstrated to be true, and you internalize your guesswork as part of your identity, and you refuse to let go of it when confronted with contradictory demonstrations, then you are a fool.

I have knowledge. People who disagree with me have beliefs. /s

nah but for real its all the same, innit? it's just a matter of how well supported you think your thoughts/beliefs/knowledges are. if i was drawing that kind of a distinction in my head, wouldn't that mean that i'm thinking things are true that i simultaneously know are false? if i was gonna have 'knowledge' and 'beliefs' rattling in my head as separate things, that seems like me it'd smack of willful self-delusion.

Belief is overarching concepts, knowledge is specifics, many in this thread are conflating belief with faith

I believe in science because I have knowledge of the scientific method.

A belief is a headline that seems to be accurate. Knowledge is when I actually read the article and checked other sources.

Knowledge is justified true belief.

You can't know whether you have it or not.

Keeping a close eye and tight rain on bias and fallacy, observation beats word of mouth. A peer-reviewed scientific study is exactly equal to observation.

Mathematical proof is also observation.

Lack of observation does not in any way indicate lack of truth. Because you feel or don't feel some way and have or have not seen something happen to someone else in no way influences whether something actually happened to someone else. Our perception filters are incredibly bad.

Appeal to authority means very little as single people easily get biased. Discount anything said if the person telling you the truth stands to gain money power or time from it being believed.

From many perspectives the two are the same and that ís a huge problem

Knowledge can be proven, like how a beautiful sunrise proves the existence of god. /s

There's no god. As soon as we get that point across, we can start meaningfully improving things.

For knowledge, I first try to contextualize the piece of thinking into a human framework. Once I did this, I ask myself if the piece of thinking can be known by any system that can be replicated. If this is the case, then I look into it, to get a grasp of how the piece of thinking became a piece of information and the context in which it was tested. Then I adopt it, trying to remember that context.

A belief I just decide it is true. I have personal rules for it too. 1) Overall, I'd like it to be a part of my life because it makes me feel better than not having it, and 2) it doesn't hurt anyone else, as far as I know.

Obviously, off the top of my head.

I know I exist. Everything else is varying levels of belief.

Facts are made up by humans. If an opinion of mine regarding an empirical argument conforms with the general good of the public I prefer to spend time with, I accept it as a fact. When my opinions contradict with this, I accept that I believe it this way, considering neither options are testable or objectifiable.

I don't. Everything I think is true, I have various evidence that it is. If the evidence is stronger, the surety is stronger. Think, believe, know... all the same thing, all dependent on evidence.