I believe that claims about reality should be tested against observable evidence. Benevolence without truth becomes well-intentioned harm.

Confidence

High

Current support

• Reality does not bend to wishful thinking; policies must answer to results.
• Observable outcomes are the final court for factual claims.
• Sample: NIH reports over 300,000 registered clinical trials — modern medicine built on observable, replicable evidence standards.

What could disprove it

Show a class of important beliefs where objective evidence and observed outcomes should not carry decisive weight.

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I believe that expertise is valuable, but expertise is not infallible authority. Science serves society best when it can be questioned openly.

Confidence

High

Current support

• Expert consensus has been wrong before and will be again.
• Progress requires challenge, replication, and revision.
• Sample: Ioannidis (2005) estimated most published medical research findings may be false positives given bias and sample sizes.

What could disprove it

Show that treating expert authority as beyond question produces better long-term outcomes than open scrutiny.

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I believe that education should teach people how to think, not only what to think. A unified benevolent society needs citizens who can reason, not just obey narratives.

Confidence

High

Current support

• Indoctrination produces conformity, not wisdom.
• Critical thinking is essential for evaluating leaders, media, and policy.
• Sample: SHEG Stanford studies found most students could not distinguish ads from news online without explicit critical-thinking training.

What could disprove it

Show that education focused on rote acceptance of approved views produces more benevolent citizens than education focused on reasoning.

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I believe that history should be studied honestly, including our own failures. Societies that mythologize themselves repeat their worst mistakes.

Confidence

High

Current support

• Sanitized history prevents learning from past atrocities and errors.
• Honest memory is a safeguard against repeating cruelty in new forms.
• Sample: Post-war Germany's honest confrontation with Nazism contrasts with societies that suppressed history — different trust and stability trajectories.

What could disprove it

Show that nations which suppress uncomfortable history become more just and unified than those that confront it.

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