知识能提高生活质量吗?

Greg Ashton, Postgraduate student in philosophy and English literature.
I suppose it depends on what sort of knowledge. Knowledge of an 'intellectual' sort, like knowledge of the speed of light or knowledge of the chemical composition of water, for example, seem only to improve the quality of life in an indirect, instrumental way - perhaps this knowledge will lead to inventions which save labour, improve our health, or allow us to travel faster and with more ease. But such knowledge doesn't improve the life of the individual who possesses it. The joy of knowing and discovering such facts about the natural world might give meaning to someone's life, but in this case their is nothing special about knowledge improving my life, it just happens to be the obxt of my desires. Similarly, discovering, learning and performing new card tricks might be what gives me pleasure - it seems that knowledge of this sort has no special status in terms of improving my life which I might not gain from other pleasurable activities.

我想这要看是什么样的知识。
比如说，"智力 "类的知识，如光速的知识或水的化学成分知识，似乎只能以间接的、工具性的方式提高生活质量——也许这些知识会带来一些发明，节省劳动力，改善我们的健康状况，或者让我们的旅行更快、更方便，但这种知识并不能改善拥有这种知识的个人的生活。
了解和发现自然界的这些事实的喜悦可能会给某人的生活带来意义，但这种情况下，这些知识对于改善我的生活没有什么特别的意义，它们只是碰巧成为我的欲望的对象。
同样，发现、学习和表演新的纸牌把戏可能是给我带来快乐的东西——就改善我的生活而言，这类知识似乎没有什么特殊的地位，而我可能无法从其他快乐的活动中获得。

On the other hand, there is knowledge of life in a more practical sense - what we might call 'wisdom'. I might, for example, 'know' that simply pursuing my desires in a selfish fashion will not bring me happiness - such knowledge surely improves the life of one who has realised it. But it is knowledge of a quite different sort to the first kind. In the first case, if I know the speed of light, I can simply inform anyone else of the fact - and then they know it, too. If I inform someone of my conclusion that the selfish life does not lead to happiness, they might accept what I say and themselves take it up as a belief which they hold, something they claim to know - but they will, in all likelihood, continue to live and act as before. There seems to be something about practical 'wisdom' of this sort which we have to 'know' or experience in a more immediate, personal sense. Such knowledge strikes with the force of a revelation, not at all like the noting of a pertinent fact.
So, essentially, I think the answer is 'yes' - but there are interesting questions to be asked about the types and status of knowledge, and how such knowledge can be transmitted and realised.

另一方面，还有更实际意义上的生活知识——我们可以称之为“智慧”。
例如，我可能会 "知道"仅仅以自私的方式追求自己的欲望不会给我带来幸福—— 这种知识肯定会改善已经意识到这一点的人的生活。
但这是一种与第一种完全不同的知识，如果我知道了光速，我可以简单地告诉其他任何人这个事实——然后他们也就知道了。
如果我告诉别人我的结论，比如自私的生活不会带来幸福，他们可能会接受我说的话，并把它当作他们所持有的信念，成为他们声称知道的东西—— 但他们很可能会继续像以前那样生活和行动，这种实用的 "智慧 "似乎必须在更直接、更个人的意义上 "知道 "或体验，这种知识以一种启示的力量打动人，完全不像注意到一个相关的事实。
所以，从本质上讲，我认为答案是肯定的，知识能改善生活质量——但关于知识的类型和地位，以及这种知识如何传播和实现，还有一些有趣的问题有待探讨。

Eric Linus Kaplan, philosopher and comedy writer living in California
I would rephrase this, with your permission, are there any people who's lives are ever improved by knowing something. If you accept this rephrasing you will I think accept that there are many such cases. For example if you are walking across the street and there is a bus about to hit you, your life will be improved if you know that, because you can get out of the way. If you are laboring as an office temp but you would be a great opera singer, your life would be improved by knowing that fact, because you could take steps to achieve that more satisfying career.
There may will be cases in which someone's life is made worse by knowledge. So for example if the office temp above will never be able to become an opera singer he might become unhappy by knowing that he would have made a great one.
Some have argued (e.g. J.S. Mill, Aristotle) then it is inherently noble to want to know what's going on, even if it leads to dissatisfaction, that it is slavish or inhuman to want to be ignorant. If they are correct then knowledge could improve the quality of human life even if it leads to unhappiness. They don't want to leave in a fool's paradise, even if it is paradise! I'll leave it to you to decide if you agree with them -- it is really each person's individual decision and (in my view) no other person can tell you what's right on this score.

如果你允许的话，我想重新表述一下，有没有人的生活因为知道了某些事情而得到改善？
如果你接受这个改写，我想你会接受有很多这样的情况。
例如，如果你正在过马路，有一辆公共汽车即将撞上你，如果你知道这一点，你的生活将会得到改善，因为你可以让开路。
如果你是一名办公室临时工，但你知道你可以成为一名伟大的歌剧演员，你的生活将被改善，因为知道这个事实，你便可以采取行动，去实现更令人满意的职业生涯。
可能会有一些情况下，有人的生活会因为知道了某些事情而变得更糟，例如，如果上面提到的办公室临时工永远不能成为一名歌剧演员，他可能会因为知道这个事实而不开心。
有人（ 比如密尔、亚里士多德）认为，有知道的欲望，即使会导致不满意，也是天生的高尚，而无知是奴性的或不人道的。
如果他们是正确的，那么知识可以提高人类生活的质量，即使导致不幸福，他们不想生活在一个愚人的天堂，即使它是天堂！
我会让你来决定是否同意他们的观点 —— 这实际上是每个人的个人决定，（在我看来）在这一点上，其他人不能告诉你是正确还是是错误。

Dave Davidson, Be Here Now
For organisms, the only unadulterated knowledge is direct perception of the environment. All organisms depend on knowledge to survive. They perceive enough to fit into their fundamental needs and they conduct their subsequent behaviors accordingly. It they cannot do this they cannot survive. This is the most fundamental form of improvement that knowledge can bestow. At this primitive point, quality of life is simple.
Humans can abstract their perceptions with the use of symbols and gigantic neural networks. One can extrapolate the benefits from structuring perceptions this way to include many new and complex paybacks.
Yes, not only does knowledge improve the quality of life, it is life’s primary support. The exception would be having knowledge of something that can be detrimental to know. For instance, having the unnecessary knowledge of something that is painful can have an adverse impact on performance.

对生物来说，唯一纯粹的知识就是对环境的直接感知，所有的生物体都是依靠知识来生存的，它们感知到的知识足以满足它们的基本需求，并据此进行后续的行为，如果不能做到这一点，它们就无法生存，这是知识所能赋予的最基本的进步形式，在这个原始点上，生活质量是简单的。
人类可以利用符号和巨大的神经网络抽象出自己的认知。人们可以推断出这样结构化感知所带来的好处，包括许多新的和复杂的回报。
知识不仅能提高生活质量，而且是生活的基本支柱，当然也有一些例外的情况，比如拥有一些知识，但这些知识可能是有害的，例如，对一些令人痛苦的事情有不必要的了解可能会对生活产生不利影响。

Magne Matre
Sometimes yes. You can use basic physics, chemistry snd psychology knowledge for various life hacks, to increase your wuality of life.
Sometimes no. Some knowledge can decrease quality of life. Learning how a loved one got killed, for instance. Plus, many bright and very knowledgeable people led very disheartening and isolated lives (Immanuel Kant for instance), because of their knowledge and way of viewing the world. See also the philosopher Diogenes in ancient greece. He's the perfect example. (For some reason it seems that philosophers or other deep thinkers are especially subject to letting knowledge ruin their own quality of life. Don't convince yourself of Nihilism, for starters).

有时候可以，你可以使用基本的物理、化学和心理学知识来学习各种生活技巧，来改善你的生活质量。
有时候并不能，有些知识反而会降低生活质量，例如，学习了解自己所爱的人是如何被杀害的，此外，许多聪明博学的人因为他们的知识和看待世界的方式而过着令人沮丧和孤立的生活 ( 例如康德)，还有古希腊哲学家第欧根尼，他就是最好的例子。( 由于某种原因，哲学家或其他深刻的思想家似乎特别容易让知识毁掉他们自己的生活质量，千万不要用虚无主义来说服自己 ）

Bari Bardhan
Knowledge is certainly a prerequisite to a decent quality of life. However, in my view, is only one facet with regards to improving one's quality of life.
In fact, knowledge can be rendered utterly useless if not coupled with the right virtues which would allow for the effective application in relevant situations where one's quality of life is at stake.
For example, it is almost "common knowledge" that adhering to a consistent exercise routine can yield substantial health benefits, thus ameliorating one's quality of life. However, the discipline (a virtue) required to stick to a consistent routine is usually what is in short supply, not the knowledge. Yes, the more you know about your how your body works, injury prevention, etc., the better off you will be. But it is only one part of the equation.
The question of virtues is one that I've given much thought as I've embarked upon the maturation process over the commencement of my adulthood years, and, at this moment in time, I've come to the conclusion that it's better to focus on developing the correct virtues as opposed to the acquisition of knowledge.
Of course, that's not to suggest that acquiring knowledge about a particular subject matter with respect to one's quality of life has been rendered unimportant and trivial. It is essential, but, in my mind, not the most challenging part of improving one's prospects of living a happy life. It's identifying and strengthening the virtues required to apply such knowledge to one's circumstances that is well and truly the defining factor in this regard.
Hope that helps a bit, and thanks for the A2A.

知识固然是提高生活质量的先决条件，但在我看来，知识只是提高生活质量的一个方面，
事实上，知识如果不与美德结合起来，就可能变得毫无用处，因为美德可以使人们在生活质量受到威胁的相关情况下得到有效应用。
例如，坚持一贯的锻炼可以带来实质性的健康益处，从而改善一个人的生活质量，这几乎是“常识”，然而，坚持日常锻炼所需的纪律（一种美德）通常是最缺乏的，而不是知识，是的，你越了解你的身体如何工作，如何预防受伤，等等，你会变得更好，但这只是其中的一部分。
美德的问题是一个在我成熟的过程中，在我的成年后的岁月里，我考虑了很多的一个问题，此时此刻，我得出的结论是，相对于知识的获取，注重培养正确的美德更重要。
当然，这并不是说获取某一特定学科的知识，对于一个人的生活质量已经变得不重要或者微不足道，它是必不可少的，但在我看来，知识并不是提高一个人幸福生活前景最具挑战性的部分，确定和加强将这些知识应用于自己的环境所需的美德，才是这方面的决定性因素。
希望对大家有点帮助，谢谢邀请。

Leisha Young, Things change and life goes on...that I know for sure.
Yes and no. The more knowledge we accumulate the more it places us in good steed to make better/more informed decisions about our own lives (although this isn't a rule), thus adding to the likelihood of being able to live a 'good' life, with a high standard of living and the ability to maintain that standard of living.
On the down side, knowledge can also drive you nuts, because you can see more clearly than most others what is happening in the world and how those problems can be solved, yet there is much ignorance (often willful), in the world that continues to hold humanity back and even contributes to our own destruction; and this can have negative impacts on both your physical and mental health.
The good news is that people with knowledge usually have enough insight to find ways to deal with their anxieties and fears and can often achieve a level of harmony with their environment to allows them to focus on the positives in this world rather than the negatives; and as having knowledge increases the likelihood of you having more leisure time, or personal time than those less knowledgeable people (once again not a rule but a strong possibility), you will have more time to devote to the things you love in life rather than your obligations. With the addition of a higher level of disposable income one can construct their own environment around themselves and their families to achieve a level of inner piece, which is the key to living a 'good' life.

能，也不能。
我们积累的知识越多，就越能让我们对自己的生活做出更好/更明智的决定（虽然这不是一条规律），从而增加了能够过上 "好 "生活的可能性，过上高标准的生活，并有能力维持这种生活水平。
从消极的一面来看，知识也可能让你发疯，因为你比大多数人更清楚地看到世界上正在发生的事情，以及如何解决这些问题，然而，世界上还有很多无知（往往是故意的），继续阻碍着人类的发展，甚至造成了我们自身的毁灭，这对你的身心健康都会产生负面影响。
好消息是，有知识的人通常有足够的洞察力，可以找到处理他们的焦虑和恐惧的方法，并且通常可以与环境达到一定程度的和谐，使他们能够专注于这个世界上的积极因素，而不是消极因素；
由于拥有知识，你比那些知识较少的人更有可能拥有更多的闲暇时间，或者个人时间（再一次这不是规律，而是一种强烈的可能性），你将有更多的时间投入到生活中你所热爱的事情上。
随着可支配收入水平的提高，一个人可以围绕着自己和家人构建自己的环境，达到内心所需更高的层次，这才是过上 "好 "生活的关键。

Albert Bijzitter
I a not sure if it is always the case on a personal level. Perhaps there is something like blissful ignorance that some people can appreciate as a good life, but I think most of are to curious. We want to know things and at least we think it improves the quality of life.
My view
Personally I think that is a justified position that knowledge improves the quality of life, because personal knowledge also helps us to improve our personal conditions. We see a lot of misery and poverty around the globe and education is a powerful tool to fight those.
Global and public knowledge
On the global scale of human knowledge the question is a no brainer to me: there is no doubt that the answer is yes. The best examples are medical knowledge and technological knowledge. Both defnitely improve the quality of our life

我不确定个人层面是否总是如此，也许有些人能够体会到幸福的无知是一种美好的生活，但我认为大多数人都是好奇的，我们想知道的一些东西，至少我们认为这可以提高生活质量。
我的看法：
个人知识——我认为知识可以提高生活质量这一观点是合理的，因为个人知识可以帮助我们改善个人条件，我们在世界各地看到了许多苦难和贫穷，而教育是对抗这些苦难和贫穷的有力工具。
全球和公共知识——以全球范围内的人类知识而论，这个问题对我来说是显而易见的：毫无疑问，答案是肯定的，其中最好的例子是医学知识和技术知识，两者都毫无疑问地提高了我们的生活质量。

Johnnie Lockett, Studied Philosophy over 50 years—found it wanting
Not necessarily .
First, the knowledge needs to be of something beneficial. Knowing the fine art of how to snort cocaine, or how to kidnap a millionaire's kid won't necessarily bring long term joy into your life. But even having useful knowledge won't enhance your life if it is not applied.
So, first, it depends on the knowledge and on how you use it.
Also, knowledge can adversely affect your character, and thus your relationships with other people.
For example, it makes some people egotistical and arrogant—which can cause them to be overly satisfied with themselves, but will in all likelihood alienate them from some other people. But then, some people are perfectly happy being their favorite fan. So, to them, that's not so much a negative.

不一定。
首先，知识必须是有益的。
知道如何吸食可卡因，或者如何绑架百万富翁的孩子，不一定会给你的生活带来长期的快乐，但是，即使拥有有用的知识，如果不加以应用，也不会提高你的生活质量。
所以，首先它取决于是什么样的知识以及你如何使用它。
另外，知识有可能会对你的性格产生负面影响，从而影响你与他人的关系，例如，它使一些人变得以自我为中心、傲慢自大——这可能导致他们对自己过于满意，极有可能使他们疏远其他人，当然，有些人很乐意如此，所以，对他们来说，这并不是什么坏事。

Eli Sockey
Knowledge separates humans from savage beasts. Civilization requires knowledge. Practical knowledge is for making or doing, theoretical knowledge is just for knowing, like this answer
Even “useless knowledge” has a value for we can learn from mistakes.
“I failed my way to success.” Thomas Edison. Something like,”I discovered thousands of things that DID NOT work.”

知识使人有别于野兽，文明需要知识，实践知识是拿来做或用的，理论知识是用来知道的，就像这个答案。
即使是“无用的知识”也有价值，因为我们可以从错误中学习。
“我的成功之路是失败的”托马斯·爱迪生，比如，“ 我发现了成千上万个没用的东西。”

Suzy Chotikha
First of all, I have to start with the most important type of knowledge: The type of knowledge that makes us true Homo sapiens. The knowledge that keeps us on the path to peace and true freedom and is completely in line with humanity is self-knowledge. However, without self-awareness, it is impossible to develop self-knowledge, so we need both of them together.
Why do self-awareness and self-knowledge are fundamental? Because Humans naturally need to love and accept themselves in order to continue to live, and this is our innate instinct, which is why many negative people who cause destruction to the world do not fully realize how negative they truly are, and they continue to do their bad deeds by lying to themselves and/or justifying their negative actions. Nobody can survive with full-blown self-disgust and self-hate; they will either commit suicide or change their behavior.

首先，我们必须从最重要的知识的类型开始 :
使我们成为真正的智人的知识类型，使我们走在通往和平与真正自由的道路上并且完全符合人性的知识便是对自我的认识，然而，如果没有自我意识，就不可能发展自我认识，所以我们需要这两者一起发展。
为什么自我意识和自我认识是最基本的？
因为人类自然地需要爱和接受自己，才能继续生存，这是我们与生俱来的本能，这也是为什么很多给世界造成破坏的消极者并没有完全意识到的，他们继续通过欺骗自己和/或为自己的消极行为辩护来做坏事，没有人能够在自我厌恶和自我憎恨的情况下生存下来，他们要么自杀，要么改变自己的行为。

Apart from self-awareness and self-knowledge, we also need to know where/how to look for happiness. Most humans still believe that in order to gain happiness, we need to gain and obtain something from the outside world or external rewards. Actually, it is quite the opposite: in order to be truly happy, we need to give, and, as a consequence, we will receive internal rewards which will cultivate our self-esteem and (righteously earned) self-love, the most important foundation of true happiness.
The above mention type of knowledge is completely in line with humanity and keeps us away from cruelty and all the pain we inflict both on each other and all other living things.
When we have cultivated self-awareness, self-knowledge, universal love (opposite to sextive/selfish/limited kind of love), and have a clear idea of where to look for happiness; we will be ready to learn anything and use any knowledge we have in a positive way, then anything we choose to do will not be driven by ignorance, greed, and delusion.
We are the master of our destiny. Your happiness is NOT somebody else responsibility. It’s yours, you are responsible for it.

除了自我意识和自我认识，我们还需要知道在哪里/如何寻找幸福。
大多数人仍然相信，为了获得幸福，我们需要从外部世界或外部奖励中获得和获取一些东西，事实上，恰恰相反 : 为了获得真正的快乐，我们需要付出，因此，我们会得到内在的奖励，这些奖励将培养我们的自尊， ( 理直气壮地赢得的) 自爱，这是真正幸福的最重要的基础。
上面提到的知识类型完全符合人性，它使我们远离残忍，远离我们对彼此和其他所有生物造成的痛苦。
当我们培养了自我意识、自知、博爱 ( 与选择性的/自私的/有限的那种爱相反) ，并且清楚地知道在哪里寻找幸福，我们才能准备好学习任何东西，并以积极的方式使用我们所拥有的知识，那么我们选择做的任何事情才不会被无知、贪婪和妄念所驱使。
我们是自己命运的主人，你的幸福不是别人的责任，而是你自己的，你要为此负责。

Terry Rankin
Yes and no.
Socrates (a philosopher) claimed that life without philosophy wouldn't be worth living (he actually is supposed to have said, "the unexamined life isn't worth living"). So a life worth living will require at least some knowledge, and in fact, if you live to an age of adulthood, you will have acquired not only knowledge, but an actual philosophy of life, whether you know it or not.
So in one sense, being and staying alive improve through knowledge.
On the other hand, both a little knowledge and a lot of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
Ignorance may be bliss but it sets you up as a target and victim placed squarely in the crosshairs of anyone not so ignorant who lacks the moral empathy or social sympathy to leave you alone in your blissful state and not take advantage of your ignorance.
At the same time, elite powers and unruly mobs tend to distrust and eliminate those who are more intelligent, knowledgeable, and wise. History is littered with the dead bodies of philosophers, prophets, and preachers who knew too much - including old Socrates himself. And one doesn't have to be a philosopher, prophet, or preacher to die of too much knowledge - Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby may be examples of exactly that fate.
Life is necessarily and inevitably risky, and things like security, safety, quality, and luxury, etc., are fleeting and tenuous at best. Knowledge equips you to deal with that fact of life, but it also reveals to you - and exposes you to - more of the risk at the same time.

是也不是。
苏格拉底(一位哲学家) 声称，没有哲学的生活不值得过下去( 其实他说的应该是"浑浑噩噩的生活不值得过 )，所以有价值的生活至少需要一些知识，事实上，如果你活到成年的年龄，不管你是否知道，你不仅会获得知识，而且会获得实际的人生哲学。
所以从某种意义上来说，存在和生存都是通过知识来改善的。
另一方面，知识过少和知识过多都可能是一件危险的事情。
无知可能是福，但它会让你成为目标和受害者，让你成为那些不那么无知的人的靶子，这些人倘若缺乏道德同理心或社会同情心，会利用你的无知，不会让你安然独自处于幸福的状态。
与此同时，精英势力和不法暴徒倾向于不信任和消灭那些更聪明、更有知识和更有智慧的人。
历史上充斥着哲学家、先知和传教士的尸体，包括老苏格拉底本人——他们知道的太多了。
而一个人不一定非得是哲学家、预言家或布道者，才会死于知识太多——李·哈维·奥斯瓦尔德和杰克鲁比可能就是这种命运的典型例子。
生活必然也不可避免地充满了风险，而像安全、保障、质量等等这样的东西，往好了说也是短暂和脆弱的，知识使你具备了应对这一生活事实的能力，但它也同时向你揭示——并使你暴露于——更多的风险之中。

Lukas Schwekendiek
Knowledge helps guide you in the right direction.
The more knowledge you have, about yourself, about the world, and about everything you can and cannot do, the more likely you will be to make a choice in the right direction.
Most people do not make a choice because they did not inform themselves enough!
In this Age of Information knowledge is power.
Or at least a big boost to power, it is not everything of course.
But the more knowledge you have about the world, in any way, shape, or form, the more likely you are to live a better life!
There is a definite Correlation there.
Although, I do have to mention that the people living the best lives usually do not focus on their knowledge, they focus on their feelings.
That being said though, knowledge is definitely an amazing starting point and can help improve your quality of life IF YOU USE IT RIGHT!
Knowledge alone does not do anything. You have to take a corresponding Action with the knowledge you acquired.
Just knowing what to do is easy.
But actually doing it is another step entirely.

知识可以帮助你找到正确的方向。
你对自己，对世界，对你能做的和不能做的事情了解得越多，你就越有可能在正确的方向上做出选择。
大多数人之所以没有做出选择，是因为他们对自己的了解不够 !
在这个信息时代，知识就是力量。
或者说至少是力量的一大助力，当然它不是万能的。
但是，你对这个世界的了解越多——无论以何种方式，何种形式——你就越有可能过上更好的生活！
这里面是有一定的关联性的。
尽管如此，我不得不提到，那些过着最好生活的人们通常并不注重他们的知识，而是关注他们的感受。
尽管如此，知识绝对是一个神奇的起点，如果你正确使用它，它可以帮助你提高生活质量！
知识本身并不能起到任何作用，你必须用你所获得的知识采取相应的行动。
仅仅知道该做什么是很容易的。
但实际做起来却完全是另一回事。