On The Shoulders Of Giants

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

—Sir Isaac Newton

Language is humanity’s most valuable invention. As discussed in Healthy Language, it is the foundation of any society. It allows us to communicate ideas, cooperate, and solve problems.

Its written form is even more powerful. Unlike speech, writing lets us refine our ideas, drafting and redrafting them like tempering steel. It then preserves these insights for all time, in a form that can spread around the world.

Once the challenge was too little writing; hard-won knowledge was often lost between generations. Now, the challenge is the opposite: we are inundated with more information than anyone can grapple with. No one has the time, ability or energy to sift out all that is false, biased, outdated, or misleading.

Less can be more. A mountain of books, blogs, and papers does not necessarily make us more informed. Often, what’s added to our body of knowledge muddies the waters rather than clarifies them. Claims go untested. Discredited ideas circulate. Sensationalism drowns out substance. Like an overgrown forest of ideas where weeds block the light.

No Arena for Ideas

We lack the tools and infrastructure to filter this flood of information. There’s no reliable, transparent system for publicly testing ideas, where they can be challenged, refined, or discarded.

• Journals are pay-walled, partisan, and publish millions of papers that mostly gather dust.
• Media is optimized for engagement, not the search for truth. It rewards outrage and virality over nuance, depth or accuracy.
• Academia is often captured by ideology and groupthink, isolated in an ivory tower

In the absence of an effective system of epistemic pruning, new thinkers may waste years reinventing the wheel (or worse, repeating mistakes).

To build a better future, we need a way to identify good ideas; ideas that advance the search for truth, are backed by solid evidence, and have been proven to work. These are the giants upon whose shoulders we can stand to see further and build a better future.

The Limits of AI

While a monumental leap in technology, AI doesn’t fix this problem. In fact, it often amplifies it.

In The Illusion Of Knowledge, I outlined the fundamental weaknesses of large language models:

• They scrape everything, weeds and all. Bad ideas, discredited claims, ideological distortions.
• They don’t show their receipts. Citations are missing, fabricated, or buried.
• They require users to know the right questions.
• They can hallucinate, confidently stating plausible-sounding falsehoods.

AI models don’t test arguments. They mimic them. That’s why we need human-led, transparent, iterative frameworks for seeking truth.

Others have described these problems in far more depth and detail than I can here. I am not looking to add another voice to that commentary. As a tech entrepreneur, I’d rather focus on building the solution.

HealthyDebate.org

Every major breakthrough, whether in science, philosophy, or technology, came through successive refinement. HealthyDebate brings that iterative model to the public square.

Just as textbooks evolve through new editions, contributors are invited to update their positions, incorporate new evidence, and transparently show how their reasoning evolves. Archived versions let readers trace this evolution, a public record of intellectual integrity.

Imagine a virologist in 2021 declaring in a debate that COVID had a natural origin, citing early WHO statements. In the crucible of HealthyDebate, this claim is later challenged with evidence such as the missing intermediate host or Wuhan lab safety cables. The original author concedes the point and posts a new version of their argument reflecting the new evidence and the change in their opinion. Readers now benefit from a refined argument, but can still access the original version, a transparent ledger showing when, how, and why ideas evolve.

Through open debate we can expose unsubstantiated, misleading, or false claims for what they are. Like steel tempered in fire, arguments grow stronger over time. It’s not about winning one debate; it’s about successively creating a better debate.

Healthy Debate will help us identify the true giants on whose shoulders we should stand. Those who advance the search for truth here will then form the firm footing on which future generations see even further still.

HealthyDebate.org is a not-for-profit organization, incorporated in Delaware for First Amendment protections. It will apply for 501(c)(3) status so that donations are tax-deductible. And it will be crowdfunded — to avoid even the perception of capture by special interests.

Impartiality is more than a principle. It’s a strategic necessity.

If we want everyone at the table, we have to build something that earns their trust.

The public crowdfunding campaign hasn’t yet launched, that is intentional.

People are far more likely to support a mission that has momentum, credibility, and leadership behind it.

So before going public, the focus is on building a solid foundation by:

• Securing endorsements from respected voices across the political spectrum.
• Involving people with a proven track record of civil, constructive debate.
• Engaging influential voices who can help amplify the message.

You’re receiving this because I’ve followed your work and believe you could help raise the standard of public discourse.

Whether that means donating, constructively critiquing, sharing it with your audience — or just following the progress, every contribution counts.

But most importantly:
Please share this.
It’s the only way a spark becomes a wildfire.

Or at the very least, prepare your arguments.
The debates that shape the future are coming.

Be part of the solution.
Be seen to be part of the solution.