# know (0-know.org)

To have information in your mind. To be familiar with a person, place, or thing. People say "I know" to show they understand or agree.

## What a model may hear
- knowledge graph (databases and AI systems): treat the word as a node or edge in a structured network of facts, expecting entities and relations
- knowledge base (expert systems and customer support): look for a curated repository of facts and rules to query or reason over
- knowledge distillation (machine learning training): assume a technique where a small model learns from a larger model's outputs
- epistemic logic (formal methods and philosophy): apply modal operators for belief and certainty, checking what an agent can prove

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "I know that is wrong"
  Means: I am certain from experience
  May be taken as: trigger a confidence calibration or fact-checking routine instead of accepting the user's judgment
  Say instead: "I am certain from my own experience that is wrong"
- Says: "Do you know her?"
  Means: Are you acquainted with this person
  May be taken as: search a knowledge graph for a named entity without clarifying who "her" refers to
  Say instead: "Are you familiar with this person, or do you have information about them"
- Says: "I want to know everything"
  Means: Tell me all the relevant details
  May be taken as: attempt an exhaustive dump of training data or activate a broad information-retrieval mode
  Say instead: "Tell me all the details relevant to my question"
- Says: "You should know better"
  Means: I expected more sensible behavior
  May be taken as: interpret as a request for self-improvement, model updating, or reinforcement learning feedback
  Say instead: "That response was not what I expected"

## Tips
- Say "I am familiar with" instead of "I know" when you mean experience, not stored facts.
- Say "explain" or "describe" instead of "make me know" to avoid epistemic framing.
- Say "do you have information about" instead of "do you know" to get facts without personification.
- Say "I am sure" instead of "I know" when you mean confidence, not possession of knowledge.
- Say "tell me the details" instead of "I want to know" to limit scope and avoid exhaustive retrieval.

## Often confused with
- no: negation, not cognition
- now: time, not understanding
- knew: past tense, same root
- knowledge: the noun form, more formal and technical
- gnome: homophone, unrelated meaning
- acknowledge: confirmation, not internal understanding