Can Knowledge About A Thing Change The Thing? A Person? A Relationship?

One could argue that knowledge doesn't change the fundamental nature of a thing. A tree remains a tree whether we understand photosynthesis or not. The physical reality exists independently of our understanding of it. The atoms in a star were fusing long before humans knew about nuclear physics.

However, our knowledge of things can fundamentally change what they are - once humans understood that diseases were caused by microorganisms rather than "bad air" or divine punishment, the very nature of what a disease "is" transformed - not just conceptually, but in terms of how it functions in human society, how we respond to it, and even how it evolves in response to our interventions.

Now think about identity and relational dynamics….

Learning something new about yourself can actually reorganize who you are. Discovering your sexual orientation or gender identity, learning you have ADHD, or the root cause of a trauma —these aren't just intellectual shifts. They are transformative. The knowledge doesn't merely describe what was already there; it reorganizes how you understand your own history, choices, and possibilities. You become a different person after knowing.

Likewise, learning something significant about another person changes who they are to you, and often changes who they become in relation to you. If you discover a friend was struggling with mental illness silently, or that they made a serious mistake years ago—the person you thought you knew shifts. But here's the profound part: they may become a different person because you now know. They may drop a mask, become more vulnerable, or behave differently because the knowledge has changed the relational field between you.

So, is there a paradox of authenticity? If you're constantly discovering new knowledge about yourself and adjusting accordingly, are you becoming "more authentic" or constantly shifting? Is there a stable self to be authentic to, or is authenticity itself a process of integrating new knowledge?

What are your thoughts….