The soundness of evidence underpins all knowledge. Certainty of knowing anything hinges on this truism as we can see from every successful endeavor of human ingenuity.
“Freethought” for me means not being constrained by dogma. Going wherever the evidence leads, even if that goes against my previous understanding or societal thought. There is one exception: the dogma of sound evidence. It’s the toolkit that prevents us from fooling ourselves about what we see around us. It means valuing QUALITY research by […]
Continue ReadingAll knowledge comes in degrees of certainty or reliability. Reliability is merely an expression of certainty. We’re MORE certain of knowledge if it: Comes from sound evidence. Makes sense with how the universe works. Is not based on less reliable knowledge. We build stuff that works by basing it on reliable knowledge. How will gasoline […]
Continue ReadingIf you can test something yourself, that’s the best source. You can believe yourself *BUT*, realize the power of bias. We are the easiest to fool if we are trying to validate our own understanding rather than really test it. Test a claim using methods that others will use who question the claim. Otherwise they’ll […]
Continue ReadingReliable knowledge is important. I saw how fragile it is, and how often nonsense gets pedalled after getting into paramotoring (see FootFlyer.com) and seeing just out how much misinformation was out there. Only a couple years in revealed that much of what was taught regarding safety was wrong. I’d get bits and pieces of good […]
Continue ReadingSo you fancy yourself a critical thinker. You get the importance of basing knowledge on evidence, but what constitutes GOOD evidence? Nearly everyone says they have evidence for all manner of claims. But evidence comes in degrees of quality, of certainty. Belief should be granted in proportion to the evidence. If you think that Lord […]
Continue Reading