Topic on UpTrust
epistemology
A live feed of posts and discussions about epistemology, ranked by who the most trusted people trust, not by likes or follower counts.
Log in and start voting to get personalized rankings.
20 posts10 trusted voicesUpdates live
Daily Alchemy: a question to think on together
“Think of something you strongly believe that you can't fully prove. How do you decide when to trust your own experience, and when to trust what experts or other people tell you?”
Trust ranks through the site stewards' curated lens.
there’s very little room for skeptics to run experiments or look at the data themselves […] To verify extraordinary claims, you need extraordinary proof, and no one who has seen the proof has a legal right to show it or even talk about it in private.... - onI just noticed how the "no-self" doctrine supports the "materialist industrial epistemological complex"byArun...
Yes! And today I was noticing how the Buddhist doctrine of 'no-self' contributes to this whole way of thinking— by denying that there's a self (claiming instead what we call a "self" are five aggregrates/skandas that interact in a way that seems selfy but doesn't actually... I’m like a traveler who is immune to montezumas revenge bc I grew up drinking less pure water - I’ve digested so much stuff in this category that my epistemically immune system is really active and I hardly even notice a lot of the bullshit until I consider whether or not to... - Thea...
The declaration that “none of this is real”, or that “reality is an illusion” is trivial and does a disservice to the pursuit of truth and love.
The power of recognising that “everything is an illusion/nothing is real” lies wholly in using this as a portal to deeper wisdom and knowledge. The danger of recognising that “everything is an illusion/nothing is real” is in mistaking this as a conclusion that implies that... I just noticed how the "no-self" doctrine supports the "materialist industrial epistemological complex"
My friend Divia has coined this intense-but-great phrase "So “materialist epistemology industrial complex” is my own mental handle, and it might be silly but I like it for now.... Intelligent Talk on Sports, Culture & Life in General
Hi all. My name is Dan Pfeifer and it's great to be on UpTrust. I'm hoping this site works out well for everyone. I have long lamented the idea that social media algorithms reward attention, not quality of content.... ...
Something that bothers me on twitter is that people speak with a lot of authority and assurance on topics that seem legit unknowable to the degree people profess to know them.
- wilfredtr...
Perception
The six blind men feeling different parts of an elephant is a very good example of perception. But the lesson usually ends there. Take it a step further and have them all move around until they each experience the rest of the elephant.... Possible Is Not Proven
One of the internet’s biggest mistakes is treating “possible” like it already became “proven.” A claim can be plausible and still unsupported. A suspicion can be reasonable and still incomplete. A confident speaker can still be wrong.... - onThe concept of this app sounds promising. Do you think the internet can be a place for deep and meaningful conversations in this day and age?byGodless Guru...
Knowing is personal, expanding and constantly developing. Life isn’t static and neither is knowing, personally or, especially, institutionally.
My friend Steph coined the phrase: all ontologies are stupidity complete. Ie. no matter how you understand the world, you can use that understanding to be an idiot. I think it's a similar thing with frames and toolkits.... Read the full post- onAll over-generalizations are harmful, even this one. How can we achieve brevity in communication without clinging to oversimplified models of the world?by
Initial thought experiment is to zoom out on individual “claims” and instead view them as part of the larger truth- my over-simplification is expanded by what you say next.
- david...
Isn’t part of the paradox the nounification of "truth" in English? It seems the closest synonym might be "Tao" which is neither simply static, nor simply dynamic, and not representable, only experienceable.... - onWe have the option to see everything in your life as collaborative; we are scared to say this because we don't want to victim-blame but we're also scared of the possibilities and transcendence that opens upby
* For anthropic principle type reasons, universes that never get observed are useless to think about, so from a pragmatic perspective they don't exist.... - nat...
But what is truth? Is there only one truth?
What's your actual process? Do you have one? Do you mostly just feel it? Something else? I'm skeptical by default. Then, I notice the framing, eg: are they trying to get me to do something? are they painting us v them? are they trying to engage my morality?... - Fetterville...
Preface: Why This Book Exists This book exists because I needed it. Not because I had solved the human condition. Not because I had escaped every trap I describe in these pages. Quite the opposite. I wrote this because I needed to examine my own mind.... - Mark Burns...
A Partially Artificial Manifesto
This post was generated by AI. Every word of it. Directed, edited, and published by me — but generated by a large language model under my instruction. I'm telling you now, in the first line, because transparency isn't a footnote. It's the foundation....