Epistemic Status

<p> Tendering a <a class="wikilink" href="/digital_garden/"> digital garden </a> requires a two way commitment between the reader and the author. In order improve the level of honesty towards my readers, I came across the idea of explicitly mentioning the <strong> epistemic status </strong> of some the notes I write. I found this quote, even though not referring to a digital garden, very appropriate: </p> <blockquote cite="https://devonzuegel.com/post/epistemic-statuses-are-lazy-and-that-is-a-good-thing" class="quoteback" darkmode="" data-author="Devon Zuegel" data-title="Epistemic%20statuses%20are%20lazy%2C%20and%20that%20is%20a%20good%20thing"> I have received a lot of positive feedback for noting my epistemic status and effort at the top of my posts. This is hilarious, because I originally started using these as a hack in order to publish half-baked ideas that I'd otherwise not feel comfortable sharing. <footer> Devon Zuegel <cite> <a href="https://devonzuegel.com/post/epistemic-statuses-are-lazy-and-that-is-a-good-thing"> https://devonzuegel.com/post/epistemic-statuses-are-lazy-and-that-is-a-good-thing </a> </cite> </footer> </blockquote> <script note="" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/Blogger-Peer-Review/quotebacks@1/quoteback.js"> </script> <p> I think that adding a disclaimer to how much though I have put on what I write, and how much of an expert I am in that specific area, can make a great deal of a difference regarding how much my arguments may change over time. Of course, it adds an extra thing to consider, and therefore it is somewhat contradictory to <a class="wikilink" href="/lower_the_barrier_to_writing/"> lower the barrier to writing </a> , one of the main goals of this website. </p> <blockquote cite="https://www.swyx.io/digital-garden-tos/#2-epistemic-disclosure" class="quoteback" darkmode="" data-author="" data-title="Digital%20Garden%20Terms%20of%20Service"> <li> I will report how strongly I hold my beliefs, always reserving the right to be wrong and change my mind. </li> <li> I will report how much experience I have in the topic, by disclosing how much work I have done so far on it and linking to others who will know more. </li> <li> I will link to further resources so that readers can discover influencing and contrasting opinions from the original source. </li> <footer> <cite> <a href="https://www.swyx.io/digital-garden-tos/#2-epistemic-disclosure"> https://www.swyx.io/digital-garden-tos/#2-epistemic-disclosure </a> </cite> </footer> </blockquote> <script note="" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/Blogger-Peer-Review/quotebacks@1/quoteback.js"> </script> <p> I do think that some topics, when they can be of some sensible nature, deserve an explicit rating of confidence. I do not think that it is required to have a fixed set of levels, that would be cumbersome, but at least a description of where I came from to reach the conclusions of what I wrote. </p> <p> I do not think that tech notes (not opinions) deserve an epistemic status. I am still not sure about notes on papers or books. </p>