Research

Brandolini’s Law

I read a tweet [https://twitter.com/g_s_bhogal/status/1438972536465809409]: > Brandolini's Law (aka the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle): It takes a lot more energy to refute bullshit than to produce it. Hence, the world is full of unrefuted bullshit. I considered and analyzed the tweeted idea.

Research

Most Factors Aren’t Borderline

When trying to evaluate an issue, there are many, many factors that could be considered. As a matter of logic, the solution space is huge, and the number of things you could look at is huge. Most factors are irrelevant. Of the relevant factors, most are not close calls. They

Research

Breakpoints, Categories and Margins of Error

There are infinitely many quantitative differences between analog factors. But there are only a small number of relevant qualitative differences for a particular context with a few goals. Qualitative, notable, important, meaningful differences – differences that connect to some kinda relevant intellectual concept – are sparse and rare. There are also digital

Research

Chat about Decision Making Math

I had this discussion in August 2021 while working on my article, Multi-Factor Decision Making Math [https://criticalfallibilism.com/multi-factor-decision-making-math/]. Justin [https://justinmallone.com] was studying math. I saw an opportunity to explain the issue he was working on and also relate it to my article. Justin had not seen

Critical Fallibilism

Multi-Factor Decision Making Math

Explaining the math and philosophy for reaching decisive conclusions.

Classics

Rationality Links

This is some of my older writing about rationality that I wanted to share. Objectivist and Critical Rationalist Epistemology [https://curi.us/1579-objectivist-and-popperian-epistemology] discusses similarities and differences between Karl Popper and Ayn Rand. They agree more than most people realize. Conflict, Criticism, Learning, Reason [https://curi.us/1583-conflict-criticism-learning-reason] discusses rationality

Classics

Resolving Conflicting Ideas

I’ve written a lot about how to rationally resolve conflicts between ideas. It’s one of the most important issues in philosophy. We have lots of ideas, and they disagree/conflict/contradict with each other, so what should we do about that? How do we evaluate the ideas and

Classics

Yes or No Philosophy Summary

Karl Popper’s philosophy, Critical Rationalism (CR), rejects positive arguments (arguments in favor of ideas). It rejects trying to figure out how much support, evidence or justification an idea has. And it rejects induction, which is a type of positive argument. CR says we learn by conjectures and refutations (which

Classics

Improving Emotions

My best articles about emotions are Emotions and Bounded and Unbounded Emotions. I explain that emotions are ideas which are possible to change, and I talk about how to change your emotions. You already know many reasons to care about improving your emotions or being more aware of them. A

Classics

Rational Discussion Links

These are some of my best articles, from 2020 or earlier, related to rational discussion. Claiming You Objectively Won A Debate [https://curi.us/2232-claiming-you-objectively-won-a-debate] discusses the minimum standard to make a rational claim that a debate is finished and that a conclusion should be accepted. People rarely even try

Classics

Morality without Foundations

My morality dialog [https://curi.us/1169-morality] discusses that many different moral goals (such as maximizing squirrels or minimizing carrots, in the whole universe, over all of time), when taken seriously, converge on the same intermediate goals, actions and values (like control over reality, error correction, science, rationality, intellectual honesty,

Classics

Overreach Summary

Overreach is about considering and managing your rate of making errors compared with your rate of correcting errors. If your error rate exceeds your error correction rate, then you’re doing stuff that’s too hard for you. That is inefficient at best, and it often leads to failure. That’

Classics

Practice and Mastery

Mastery is when you’re very good at something. You know all about it. That generally means you can do it quickly, easily, with low attention and with few errors. Time, effort, and attention are resources. Masters do things more efficiently and make few mistakes. They use up fewer resources

Classics

Idea Trees Links

Tree diagrams are an intellectual tool for organizing ideas. My main article explaining them is Discussion Trees [https://www.elliottemple.com/essays/discussion-trees]. I also made a tree about making idea trees [https://curi.us/2311-making-idea-trees] and wrote Tracking Discussions [https://curi.us/2230-tracking-discussions]. Organizing ideas is important to Paths

Classics

Philosophy Introductions

In Think [https://curi.us/think/] and Philosophy: What For? [https://curi.us/files/keynotes/phil1.html], I introduce philosophy in small parts (slides or short webpages with a continue button) instead of as a big article. Both emphasize fallibility: we will inevitably make mistakes, so we need philosophical thinking

Classics

Philosophy Outline

I wrote a Philosophy Outline [https://www.elliottemple.com/reason-and-morality/] with three sections: reason, morality and liberalism. Then I had two assistants find links, primarily to my writing, that explain the ideas in the outline. You can use it to help learn about my philosophy. Review the outline to see

Classics

Paths Forward Summary

Paths Forward is an original Critical Fallibilism idea about approaching discussion and ideas rationally. That way, if you’re mistaken, and another person knows the mistake and is willing to tell you, there is a good way (path) for your error to be corrected (which moves your ideas forward to

Classics

(Classical) Liberalism

Liberalism: Reason, Peace and Property [https://www.elliottemple.com/essays/liberalism] is one of my favorite articles. I wrote over 20 separate draft articles about liberalism, then took my best ideas and explanatory approaches and used them for the final article. I wrote the most drafts about the harmony of

Classics

Lying and Social Dynamics

I particularly value my article on Lying [https://www.elliottemple.com/essays/lying]. I find people are often confused about how to judge what is or isn’t a lie, and about how to avoid lying. So I wrote an article to explain it. Lying is a routine part of

Classics

Tutoring Videos

Tutoring Max I helped Max learn philosophy by incrementally building up his skills. Most of it is relevant to everyone. One of my focuses was explaining practice activities that could be used to make progress alone, outside of tutoring sessions. I was paid for this tutoring. Some of the topics

Classics

Fallible Ideas Videos

These are my favorite videos from my curi YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOyCX1UYR7mJQmm8TXrGlhA].

Classics

Fallible Ideas Essays

My Fallible Ideas essays [https://fallibleideas.com] explain philosophy ideas. Themes include reason, knowledge creation, parenting, relationships and tradition. My Fallible Ideas for Life [https://fallibleideas.com/life] collection focuses more on using my philosophy to offer practical advice for living your life.