Nobody and nothing is infallible, so judge a person, a text or an institution by whether it can notice its own mistakes and fix them, not by its claim to be right.
Their wordsAnd in good institutions, they are characterized by having strong self-correcting mechanisms.
Their wordsThe Bible, the 10 Commandments for instance, endorses slavery.
Their wordsLiberalism’s great advantage over other ideologies is that it is flexible and undogmatic. It can sustain criticism better than any other social order.
Their wordsthe EU has no mechanism for self-correcting its legislative failures
Their wordsAnd from hence it follows, that while it is heresy to resist the decisions of the faith, because this amounts to an opposing of our own spirit to the Spirit of God, it is no heresy, though it may be an act of presumption, to disbelieve certain particular facts, because this is no more than opposing reason—it may be enlightened reason—to an authority which is great indeed, but in this matter not infallible.
Their wordsThere are no ultimate sources of knowledge. Every source, every suggestion, is welcome; and every source, every suggestion, is open to critical examination.
Their wordsThe critical attitude, the tradition of free discussion of theories with the aim of discovering their weak spots so that they may be improved upon, is the attitude of reasonableness, of rationality.
Their wordsEvery genuine test of a theory is an attempt to falsify it, or to refute it. Testability is falsifiability
Their wordsIn experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phænomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phænomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions.
Their wordsI make mistakes, and acknowledging and correcting them is an important part of how I grow.
Their wordsthis self-correction capability turns out to not exist intrinsically among LLMs and does not easily work out of the box, due to various failure modes
Their wordsAn agent has no such learning ability. At least not out of the box. It will continue making the same errors over and over again. Depending on the training data it might also come up with glorious new interpolations of different errors.
Their wordsThe holy book is supposed to be infallible. The self-correcting mechanism embraces fallibility.
Their wordsScience is a team effort, relying on institutional collaboration rather than on individual scientists or, say, a single infallible book. Of course, institutions too are prone to error. Scientific institutions are nevertheless different from religious institutions, inasmuch as they reward skepticism and innovation rather than conformity.
Their wordsSelf-correcting mechanisms are ubiquitous in nature. Children learn how to walk thanks to them.
Their wordsCrucially, scientific institutions are willing to admit their institutional responsibility for major mistakes and crimes.
Their wordsThese self-correcting mechanisms are costly, but if you want to get the truth, you must invest in them. Silicon Valley thought it was exempt from this historical rule.
Their wordsTo guard against a plethora of unforeseeable problems, our best bet is to create living institutions that can identify and respond to the threats as they arise.
Their wordsAnd in good institutions, they are characterized by having strong self-correcting mechanisms.
Their wordsThe Bible, the 10 Commandments for instance, endorses slavery.
Their wordsLiberalism’s great advantage over other ideologies is that it is flexible and undogmatic. It can sustain criticism better than any other social order.
Their wordsthe EU has no mechanism for self-correcting its legislative failures
Their wordsAnd from hence it follows, that while it is heresy to resist the decisions of the faith, because this amounts to an opposing of our own spirit to the Spirit of God, it is no heresy, though it may be an act of presumption, to disbelieve certain particular facts, because this is no more than opposing reason—it may be enlightened reason—to an authority which is great indeed, but in this matter not infallible.
Their wordsThe holy book is supposed to be infallible. The self-correcting mechanism embraces fallibility.
Their wordsCrucially, scientific institutions are willing to admit their institutional responsibility for major mistakes and crimes.
Their wordsThese self-correcting mechanisms are costly, but if you want to get the truth, you must invest in them. Silicon Valley thought it was exempt from this historical rule.
Their wordsTo guard against a plethora of unforeseeable problems, our best bet is to create living institutions that can identify and respond to the threats as they arise.
Their wordsThere are no ultimate sources of knowledge. Every source, every suggestion, is welcome; and every source, every suggestion, is open to critical examination.
Their wordsThe critical attitude, the tradition of free discussion of theories with the aim of discovering their weak spots so that they may be improved upon, is the attitude of reasonableness, of rationality.
Their wordsEvery genuine test of a theory is an attempt to falsify it, or to refute it. Testability is falsifiability
Their wordsIn experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phænomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phænomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions.
Their wordsI make mistakes, and acknowledging and correcting them is an important part of how I grow.
Their wordsScience is a team effort, relying on institutional collaboration rather than on individual scientists or, say, a single infallible book. Of course, institutions too are prone to error. Scientific institutions are nevertheless different from religious institutions, inasmuch as they reward skepticism and innovation rather than conformity.
Their wordsSelf-correcting mechanisms are ubiquitous in nature. Children learn how to walk thanks to them.
Their wordsthis self-correction capability turns out to not exist intrinsically among LLMs and does not easily work out of the box, due to various failure modes
Their wordsAn agent has no such learning ability. At least not out of the box. It will continue making the same errors over and over again. Depending on the training data it might also come up with glorious new interpolations of different errors.