Definitions
Key words, in plain language
Plain-language meanings for words used on this site. The goal is clarity — anyone should be able to follow the process without a philosophy degree.
Unfamiliar with a label on a belief page? Start with Belief, Challenge, and Ruling below. The About page explains how the full process works step by step.
Section
Core ideas
What we mean when we talk about beliefs and truth on this platform.
- Belief
- A clear claim you are willing to defend in public — not a mood, a guess, or a slogan. Each belief on this site has a title, a full statement, supporting reasons, and a standard for what would prove it wrong.
- Example: “Free speech protects good ideas by allowing them to be tested in public.”
- Evidence
- Facts, observations, or well-supported reasons that back up a belief. Evidence should be checkable — someone else can look into it and see if it holds up.
- Example: Historical records, measured data, documented outcomes, or widely accepted expert findings.
- Founding rule
- The standard for changing any belief here: a belief changes only when stronger evidence — grounded in objective reality and interpreted with contextual honesty — shows the original belief is incorrect.
- Objective reality
- What is actually true in the world, independent of what we wish were true or what a crowd believes. We use evidence and honest reasoning to get as close to it as we can.
- Contextual honesty
- Interpreting facts fairly — including the full picture, not cherry-picking only what supports your side. Same evidence can look different when important context is left out.
Section
The challenge process
How disagreement is structured so it stays useful.
- Challenge
- A structured response that tries to show a belief is wrong or incomplete. A good challenge brings evidence, explains context, and meets the public standard for disproof listed on the belief page.
- What could disprove it
- The public test for a fair challenge. Before debate starts, each belief states what kind of evidence would count against it. If a challenge does not meet that standard, it may be noted but will not change the belief.
- Example: “Repeated, large-scale studies showing the opposite effect across different countries.”
- Argument
- Your main reasoning — why you think the belief fails or needs adjustment. This should be more than insults or slogans.
- Context
- Background that helps others understand your challenge — what you are assuming, what you are not claiming, and why your evidence applies to this belief.
- Sources
- Where your evidence comes from — links, citations, or enough detail that someone can verify your claim.
- Ruling
- The founder’s recorded decision after reviewing challenges: whether the belief stays as-is, is refined, or is changed — and why.
Section
Outcomes
Every belief ends in one of three public states.
- Unchanged
- The challenges did not meet the disproof standard, or the evidence did not overturn the belief. The statement stands as published.
- Refined
- The core idea still holds, but the wording, scope, or nuance was improved so it matches reality more precisely.
- Example: Narrowing “always” to “in most modern democracies” after pushback.
- Changed
- Stronger evidence showed the original belief was wrong. The public record is updated and the history of that change is kept visible.
Section
On each belief page
Labels you will see when reading or editing a belief.
- Confidence
- How strongly the founder currently holds the belief — high, medium, or low. It is honest uncertainty, not a vote or a popularity score.
- Category
- The topic group a belief belongs to — such as individual rights, economics, or meaning — so related beliefs are easier to find and discuss together.
- Core ten
- The first ten beliefs in public order — the foundation of the unified benevolent society framework. Belief #1 is the lead belief featured on the home page.
- Version history
- A public log of how a belief’s text or ruling changed over time. Transparency matters: you can see what it used to say and when it was updated.
- Lead belief
- The belief ranked #1 in public order — the first one visitors see. It represents the starting point for the project’s public conversation.
Section
Society and channels
Bigger-picture words used across the site.
- Unified benevolent society
- The framework this project explores: a society oriented toward the common good, where beliefs are tested openly and updated when reality demands it — not ruled by noise or tribal loyalty.
- Community
- People who want to participate constructively — gathering evidence, joining working groups by category, and sending serious challenges back to the public belief pages.
- Channels
- Ways to discover the site and bring people back to the full record — the website (source of truth), plus social, podcast, and community layers planned around it.
- Waitlist
- An email signup to be notified when a channel (podcast, social, etc.) launches. It is not membership yet — just early interest.
Section
Values and Neo-Tech
Key terms from the founder's value framework — achievement, capitalism, individualism, and fully integrated honesty.
- Achievement
- The essence of human living. The source of genuine self-esteem and long-range happiness. A human necessity and prime source of pleasure. The fountainhead of all positive human values. The building block of civilization. The source of objective good.
- Business
- The competitive development, production, and marketing of values that benefit others.
- Capitalism
- Laissez-faire capitalism is the only political system that does not use or depend on initiatory force. Based entirely on justice and mutually agreed-upon exchange of values. The only system consistent with human nature and well-being. Permits maximum growth of each individual and provides maximum benefits for all. The only political system where all people are free to live in peace with justice, happiness, good will, and brotherhood. The only political system where individual rights are held supreme — thus rendering impotent the forces of altruism, injustice, favoritism, racism, and bigotry. Aspects of capitalism have been used pragmatically in Western political systems, but laissez-faire capitalism has never been the philosophical basis of any political system in history.
- Collective
- Formed by or constituting a collection.
- Collectivism
- The theory and practice of collective ownership of land and the means of production.
- Conscious
- Awake and aware of one's surroundings and identity.
- Consciousness
- The state of being conscious.
- Happiness
- A pervasive psychological state that reflects the extent to which a person knows that he is living in accordance with his nature and dealing effectively with objective reality. The prime goal and end purpose of human life is happiness, which is earned by making objectively correct choices to satisfy one's material and psychological needs.
- Individualism
- A rational, self-oriented stance that is the basis of objective morality and a prerequisite for human nature to function properly and effectively. Individualism is the stance required for production of maximum values for self and for all others — for freedom, romantic love, and long-range happiness.
- Laissez faire
- Translated literally, “to let do” or “to let the people do as they choose.” The only social system that is philosophically and consistently pro-individualism, pro-freedom, anti-force, and anti-government oppression. The only social system that fully acknowledges and respects the individual's inalienable rights to life and property — where not only the best interests of the individual can be fulfilled, but where the best interests of a rational society can also be fulfilled. A social system where no one can profit from racism, parasitism, or initiatory force.
- Mysticism
- 1. Any mental or physical attempt to recreate, evade, or alter reality through dishonesty, rationalization, non sequiturs, emotions, deceptions, or force. 2. Any attempt to use the mind to create reality rather than to identify and integrate reality.
- Neo-Tech
- Fully integrated honesty. A collection of new techniques and technology that lets one know exactly what is happening and what to do for gaining honest advantages in all situations. With Neo-Tech, all effort is directed toward achieving fully integrated honesty needed to act in concert with reality.