Knowledge Is Crude

People tend to believe someone has knowledge if they can detect a direct causal connection between a fact and a thought. Yet this is no longer a useful concept in the modern world. If anything, the concept compels humans to discount the important role that true belief plays in informing human action and decision making. For example, say your friend buys you a lottery ticket. You predict that it won’t be a winner considering the one-in-a-million odds. Your friend will look at your statement as a guess, not as knowledge. Once you find out that the ticket, indeed, is worthless, you won’t be able to claim that...