The Truth Engine--moderated argumentation
Jack Park
> The Truth Engine is a new kind of moderated wiki for public controversies, where posts will be integrated into the body of what is to become an organized, ever-changing, encyclopedic book. The system allows arguments on all sides continually to be made better and better, thus bringing us closer and closer to the truth in a way that ordinary forums do not.
Here is what its creator said to the Global Brain mailing list:
>Within the tremendous amount of data available to us in all media, we
are faced with a sea of propositions whose truth values either are or
should be in dispute.
>
>My Truth Engine is a tool that enables us to build a super-mind that
is capable of thinking through our controversies for us, and doing it
with such enormous acuity that it can allow us to vastly accelerate our
search for truth.
>
>The Truth Engine is a new kind of moderated wiki for public
controversies, where posts will be integrated into the body of what is
to become an organized, ever-changing, encyclopedic book. The system
allows arguments on all sides continually to be made better and better,
thus bringing us closer and closer to the truth in a way that ordinary
forums do not.
>
>I designed a set of rules that I call the Trilogue which maximizes the
synergy of the participating minds (because everyone who posts has to
adhere to the rules), thus facilitating the creation of, and maintenance
of, what will amount to a single super-mind that can accelerate our
society's search for truth, goodness, and beauty. (Even when
participants argue out of the narrowest self interest, they will, just
because of the way the Truth Engine is structured, find themselves
furthering the pursuit of truth--there is an "invisible hand" at work.)
>
>Modeled after the human psyche, the Truth Engine super-mind has a
thinking part, the Logos, and a feeling part, the Ikon. These two parts
are joined by the Logikon, which has features of both.
>
>The Logos will be a set of moderated wikis, whose topics are public
controversies. (Only one topic so far exists, Roswell). The site visitor
can read the wikis for free, and can also submit suggestions for
text-changes for free (but any submission not adhering to the rules of
the Trilogue stands to be summarily rejected).
>
>The Ikon, a symbolic web-based game, incorporates the rules of the
Trilogue, and presents them expressively. The Ikon keeps the Logos on
track in the Logos' search for what's true, what's good, and what's
beautiful.
>
>
>Richard Crist
Cheers,
Jack