# \#cf-article **URL:** https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/tag/cf-article/79.md [Latest](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/tags.md) --- ## [How To Build Knowledge Skyscrapers](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/how-to-build-knowledge-skyscrapers/509)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [August 27, 2026, 11:41pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/how-to-build-knowledge-skyscrapers/509 "2026-08-27T23:41:25Z")
--- ## [Cycle Between Learning Critical Fallibilism and Its Prerequisites](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/cycle-between-learning-critical-fallibilism-and-its-prerequisites/1747)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [August 23, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/cycle-between-learning-critical-fallibilism-and-its-prerequisites/1747 "2026-08-23T19:41:47Z")
Summary: If you want to be a great philosopher, you’ll need to get really good at a bunch of prerequisites. But don’t just study one prerequisite at a time until you finish it. Instead, you should cycle back and forth be… --- ## [Judging and Fixing Your Own Errors](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/judging-and-fixing-your-own-errors/492)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 26\ **Last updated:** [August 6, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/judging-and-fixing-your-own-errors/492 "2026-08-06T20:18:43Z")
--- ## [Resolving Conflicting Ideas](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/resolving-conflicting-ideas/248)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [July 11, 2026, 6:37am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/resolving-conflicting-ideas/248 "2026-07-11T06:37:30Z")
--- ## [Overthinking and Not Knowing What Success Is](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/overthinking-and-not-knowing-what-success-is/1755)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [June 29, 2026, 4:03pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/overthinking-and-not-knowing-what-success-is/1755 "2026-06-29T16:03:57Z")
A common cause of overthinking is that you’re confused, so you keep trying to do better, but you’re not really sure what’s better, so you stay confused. This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at ht… --- ## [The Prerequisites of Debate](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/the-prerequisites-of-debate/2167)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [June 23, 2026, 4:28am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/the-prerequisites-of-debate/2167 "2026-06-23T04:28:21Z")
What should you have before a debate? First, someone involved should have an idea of what they're doing. Someone should understand what a productive debate looks like. Simplifying, you should either have a debate moderat… --- ## [Projects, Activities and Using Discussion Forums](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/projects-activities-and-using-discussion-forums/1487)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [June 21, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/projects-activities-and-using-discussion-forums/1487 "2026-06-21T15:31:48Z")
--- ## [Ignoring “Small” Errors](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/ignoring-small-errors/2198)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [May 24, 2026, 7:18am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/ignoring-small-errors/2198 "2026-05-24T07:18:21Z")
Attitudes enabling ignoring “small” errors makes it significantly harder for critics to get attention and make progress. Even if they point out an error, and they are correct that it’s an error, and people agree with the… --- ## [My Experience with My Debate Policy](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/my-experience-with-my-debate-policy/2211)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [May 5, 2026, 1:32pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/my-experience-with-my-debate-policy/2211 "2026-05-05T13:32:04Z")
Summary: I explain the context for why I have a public debate policy – both philosophical reasons and experiences. I talk about fallibilism, rationality and error correction. I discuss how, counter-intuitively, my debate… --- ## [Rationality Policies](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/rationality-policies/2210)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [May 5, 2026, 3:09am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/rationality-policies/2210 "2026-05-05T03:09:30Z")
Table of Contents The rule of law is one of our most important political inventions. Written rules help address problems with biased, corrupt or otherwise untrustworthy people in power. Who shouldn’t be trusted with arbi… --- ## [Arguments Should Be Decisive Criticisms](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/arguments-should-be-decisive-criticisms/2170)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [May 4, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/arguments-should-be-decisive-criticisms/2170 "2026-05-04T17:35:15Z")
Critical Fallibilism (CF) is a philosophy I developed which deals with rationality, knowledge, and critical thinking and discussion. It builds most on Karl Popper's Critical Rationalism, which says we learn (create knowl… --- ## [Automatized Knowledge Can Resist Bias](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/automatized-knowledge-can-resist-bias/2163)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [May 4, 2026, 5:16pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/automatized-knowledge-can-resist-bias/2163 "2026-05-04T17:16:44Z")
The primary purpose of practicing ideas and skills is to enable your subconscious to do them. Subconscious energy and attention are more plentiful and cheap than conscious energy and attention. This is called automatizat… --- ## [Postmortems Help Address Causes of Errors](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/postmortems-help-address-causes-of-errors/2202)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [May 3, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/postmortems-help-address-causes-of-errors/2202 "2026-05-03T22:39:24Z")
After you make an error, you should investigate what caused the error, and what changes you should make to prevent other errors due to the same underlying cause. This is called a postmortem (the root words mean “after de… --- ## [Debate, Rejection, Priorities and Endless Meta Levels](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/debate-rejection-priorities-and-endless-meta-levels/2201)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [April 29, 2026, 8:17pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/debate-rejection-priorities-and-endless-meta-levels/2201 "2026-04-29T20:17:33Z")
Open debate policies involve more honesty than people are used to. If you don’t ignore people with no explanation, then you have to explain when you don’t debate people. That makes your reason for not debating be transpa… --- ## [Checking Citations from David Thorstad](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/checking-citations-from-david-thorstad/2197)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [April 28, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/checking-citations-from-david-thorstad/2197 "2026-04-28T17:11:23Z")
Table of Contents I checked three cites from Against the singularity hypothesis by David Thorstad. I specifically looked for quotations and checked the first three I found. I wanted to test my theory that Thorstad’s cite… --- ## [Taking Personal Responsibility for Debating Your Ideas](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/taking-personal-responsibility-for-debating-your-ideas/2196)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [April 28, 2026, 3:19am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/taking-personal-responsibility-for-debating-your-ideas/2196 "2026-04-28T03:19:44Z")
Anyone can take responsibility for defending some ideas. People can defend different but overlapping sets of ideas and still help each other. This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://criti… --- ## [Engaging with Long Articles](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/engaging-with-long-articles/2195)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2026, 5:43am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/engaging-with-long-articles/2195 "2026-04-27T05:43:21Z")
People often ignore things which are long or otherwise would take significant effort to engage with. They’ll often engage anyway if they like it, it catches their interest, it triggers them, they find it appealing, or th… --- ## [Fallibilism, Bias, and the Rule of Law](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/fallibilism-bias-and-the-rule-of-law/2194)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2026, 3:31am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/fallibilism-bias-and-the-rule-of-law/2194 "2026-04-27T03:31:31Z")
Effective Altruism (EA) aims to apply rationality, science, math and evidence to doing good. One of its main activities is evaluating the cost effectiveness of different charitable causes and encouraging donations to eff… --- ## [Philosophy as a Secondary Skill](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/philosophy-as-a-secondary-skill/1880)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [April 22, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/philosophy-as-a-secondary-skill/1880 "2026-04-22T17:08:10Z")
Philosophy can be done by itself (primary) or to support other activities (secondary). It can help you do better problem solving and learning regarding any topic. So you can pursue philosophy as a means to other ends, or… --- ## [Purpose of Thinking; Positive and Negative Arguments; Clear Goals](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/purpose-of-thinking-positive-and-negative-arguments-clear-goals/1708)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [April 13, 2026, 6:35am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/purpose-of-thinking-positive-and-negative-arguments-clear-goals/1708 "2026-04-13T06:35:28Z")
Summary: Thinking is complicated but worth working on and improving. Positive arguments aren’t as good as negative arguments, because we care whether an idea is broken (and will fail) or not. One negative argument can im… --- ## [Digital vs. Analog Thinking](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/digital-vs-analog-thinking/468)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [April 13, 2026, 5:27am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/digital-vs-analog-thinking/468 "2026-04-13T05:27:41Z")
--- ## [Paths Forward Summary](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/paths-forward-summary/199)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [April 7, 2026, 11:36pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/paths-forward-summary/199 "2026-04-07T23:36:57Z")
--- ## [In Defense of Debate](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/in-defense-of-debate/2165)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [April 4, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/in-defense-of-debate/2165 "2026-04-04T20:46:11Z")
TristanTrim wrote on LessWrong (link added): This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://criticalfallibilism.com/in-defense-of-debate/ --- ## [Introduction to Critical Fallibilism](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/introduction-to-critical-fallibilism/1920)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 53\ **Last updated:** [March 12, 2026, 1:24am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/introduction-to-critical-fallibilism/1920 "2026-03-12T01:24:53Z")
Critical Fallibilism (CF) is a philosophical system that focuses on dealing with ideas. It has concepts and methods related to thinking, learning, discussing, debating, making decisions and evaluating ideas. CF combines … --- ## [Proper Knowledge](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/proper-knowledge/519)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 27\ **Last updated:** [February 7, 2026, 11:08pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/proper-knowledge/519 "2026-02-07T23:08:11Z")
--- ## [Arguing Without Discussing Opposing Arguments](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/arguing-without-discussing-opposing-arguments/1867)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [January 30, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/arguing-without-discussing-opposing-arguments/1867 "2026-01-30T16:54:40Z")
I read A serious case for dynamic scoring, an essay discussing how the U.S. government inaccurately scores the budget impact of potential laws by ignoring complex, dynamic factors like how a law could increase economic g… --- ## [Rational Confidence and Standards for Knowledge](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/rational-confidence-and-standards-for-knowledge/514)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [January 18, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/rational-confidence-and-standards-for-knowledge/514 "2026-01-18T20:33:39Z")
--- ## [Learning Critical Fallibilism](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/learning-critical-fallibilism/500)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [December 11, 2025, 7:28am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/learning-critical-fallibilism/500 "2025-12-11T07:28:05Z")
--- ## [Practice Thinking in Terms of Error Correction](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/practice-thinking-in-terms-of-error-correction/1364)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [December 10, 2025, 8:57am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/practice-thinking-in-terms-of-error-correction/1364 "2025-12-10T08:57:34Z")
--- ## [Intellectuals Don't Debate Much](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/intellectuals-dont-debate-much/2127)
**Author:** [@Elliot](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/Elliot)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [November 25, 2025, 4:40am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/intellectuals-dont-debate-much/2127 "2025-11-25T04:40:40Z")
How many think tanks or prestigious authors have a discussion forum? How many have an online community set up where people can request debates about their claims and debates actually happen on a regular basis? How many c… [Next page](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/tag/cf-article/79.md?match_all_tags=true&page=1&tags%5B%5D=cf-article)