Only the individual can search for Truth!

less than 1m read

·Nov 3, 2024

Processing might take a few minutes. Refresh later.

Truth is a very difficult thing to come by. The universe is mostly random and mostly full of false beliefs, and so truth requires a lot of rigor. The goal standards for truth are that you have to test it against a larger system that will give you objective feedback without remorse.

Other humans are the worst thing to test against because we are socially driven to collaborate. Groups need consensus, or they fall apart. Only the individual can really search for truth, and the individual gets feedback through two systems that are objective and remorseless.

One of those is nature. Nature, you know, physics doesn't care. You run a physics experiment, it doesn't care who you are, what you think, or how badly you want it to work. It's going to tell you the truth. Chemistry is going to tell you the truth. A microscope's going to tell you the truth; you just have to be able to see it.

The other one is free markets. When you get enough people together, voting in their own self-interest with money and anonymized, they have no desire to tell you a falsehood just to make you feel better. So, nature and free markets are the gold standards, and anything...

Partial derivative of a parametric surface, part 1

TIL: That's No Moon. It's Aliens. (Maybe.) | Today I Learned

View All

The Beauty of What We Just Don't Know (A Philosophy of Trust)

There’s this human tendency to find explanations for the things that we don’t understand. This tendency has been the birthplace of folklore and creation stories that are cornerstones of many religions. Imagine living in the tribal age, gazing at the stars…

Wildlife Disappearing at the Border | National Geographic

[Music] This wildlife refuge was established for the protection of native fishes. Eight species of native Rio Yaki fishes. [Music] The jaguar occurs in the Rio Yaki down all of these drainages. Now these drainages are completely dammed up. We’re going to …

International Women's Day Livestream: Women In Technology For Good

Hello and welcome to Khan Academy’s International Women’s Day fireside chat! I am Rachel Cook, the Senior Communications Manager here at Khan Academy, and you are in for a treat today because we have an amazing conversation on deck with two badass tech ch…

Exclusive: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Describes the War With the US and How to End It

Minister Le, thank you for doing this. Um, do you believe the United States and Russia are at war with each other right now? I wouldn’t say so, and uh, in any case, this is not what we want. Uh, we would like to have normal relations with all our neighbo…

Exposing "Fake YouTube Gurus" and the business of Selling Courses

There are very few industries out there where you have the potential to make tens of millions of dollars with no employees, no overhead, no office, no physical products, and nothing but a computer, an internet connection, and something to teach. There are…

Eating the Invasive “Frankenfish” to Stop Its Spread | National Geographic

[Music] The snakeheads are a pretty smart fish. I think I’ve seen them where they’ll stir up mud, and they’ll sit there, and they won’t move. They’ll stir up that mud to make a camouflage for their s, but then they won’t make any more mud. So as the curre…

Only the individual can search for Truth!

More Articles