Epistemic progress

Abstract

Epistemic progress, or the ability to improve how humans and machines arrive at accurate conclusions, has received little attention in the Effective Altruism community. This article argues that we need to devote more resources to understanding and improving epistemic abilities. It proposes the terms ‘Epistemic Progress’ and ‘Effective Epistemics’ to help clarify and organize discussions in this area. The author defines Effective Epistemics as any practice that makes individuals or groups of people more correct about things for pragmatic purposes. Epistemic Progress, in turn, refers to substantial changes in epistemic abilities over time. The article argues that while traditional measures of progress focus on scientific and engineering achievements, it is crucial to pay attention to the development of epistemic capabilities. The author concludes by suggesting that we need to explore new and possibly unorthodox approaches to epistemic intervention in order to achieve significant progress in this field. – AI-generated abstract.