---
title: Epistemic State
date: 2012-06-26
techne: :done
episteme: :believed
non_cognitive: true
---

So, what's with these [epistemic][Epistemology] markers everywhere?

That's my attitude towards the content. I wanted a way to show whether I still believe something I have written or not, and if so, how strongly.

I didn't want to throw away old texts just because I changed my mind, but I also couldn't let them sit around without an annotation or someone might think I still endorsed them. I'm not happy just going around like RAW, claiming I'm agnostic about everything. And taking care to notice when you change your mind is very valuable. Hence the markers.

There are some general tags:

- **believed** - As far as I know, everything on that page is correct. I endorse it as-written and don't expect there to be more than minor errors.

- **semi-believed** - The general point is fine, but there are important gaps or parts that are significantly less certain than I originally thought. A rewrite can probably save the conclusion, but be careful.

- **not believed** - It's just wrong and I changed my mind since I wrote it. Sometimes I note why, and sometimes I disown those topics entirely.

- **speculation** - Just some random idea that I wanted to write more about so I could understand it better. I don't take it seriously, but it was interesting enough to spend some time with it. That's the default state.

- **fiction** - It's complicated. Generally speaking, *some* aspects of it I do believe. Sometimes it represents a marginalized aspect of me. Some days I just don't want to care about making my reasoning clear; I just want to *write* something. Or maybe I felt like trolling. Regardless, don't base your world-view on fiction, please. Fiction is treason.

- **emotional** - Some cluster of ideas that got itself entangled with a complex emotional state, and I needed to externalize it to even look at it. The ideas are in no way endorsed, but writing about them is occasionally necessary (similar to fiction).

- **log** - Log entries that simply describe what happened without any judgment or reflection. I haven't thought about it much, I just wrote it down.

And then you may have seen some weird tags. Those are *duels*. See, most of my beliefs are postmodern, more like tropes than anticipations. That's just the way my hipster brain works.

But *some* beliefs are Serious Business. I obviously believe all of them correct - that's the minimum requirement - but I also think their correctness is so clear and important, that I'd accept challenges over them. I'm a follower of [Wang Yangming][]. I believe in the unity of knowledge and action. Correct beliefs must result in virtue[^virtue] and vice versa. God shows His favor through results, not mere words.

So for those important beliefs, you can challenge me to a duel. If you win, I concede the belief and accept your position. If I win, I expect you to do the same. I accept three levels of duels:

1. For an important but still highly speculative belief, I accept fitness challenges, like who can do the most push-ups in one week. Time limit and preparation are up two weeks each, the challenge can't rely on specific gear, it must be cummulative, everything else is fair game. Sure, I may easily lose those, but they sound like fun and I win either way (by becoming more awesome).

2. For something more serious, I'd fight you in Quake 3 [like a man][Notch Q3]. I require up to 3 months of preparation for those, though. You choose one map, I pick another, 20 minute match each, highest total frag count wins. Server is chosen so that we both have identical (+/- 10%) lag.

3. For the true hardcore stuff, I'd accept a fight to the death. Up to 1 year of preparation, we decide on a time, place and weapon, and at end of the day, at most one of us is still standing. That person is [deemed right][trial by combat].

Yes, I'm completely serious. Any of those conditions can be relaxed or modified, and even a different challenge of similar difficulty may be used, as long as *both* parties agree to the modification. Any party can forfeit the duel at any point, which instantly ends the challenge (by losing). You cannot nominate someone else to fight for you, and you must challenge me yourself.
